


A Child's Mind

by WordSmithBreaker



Series: A Child's Mind [1]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-18
Updated: 2014-12-29
Packaged: 2018-02-21 14:50:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 25,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2472185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WordSmithBreaker/pseuds/WordSmithBreaker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a mission gone afoul, the team is injured and Superboy is a toddler. The only one who can undo it is the same one who cast the spell and he's nowhere to be found. A bunch of teenagers looking after a super-powered toddler. What could go wrong?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Recolletion

All things considered, given that Superboy was a clone of Superman, it should have been obvious that they would eventually come to share some likes and dislikes. As Superboy sat in the infirmary of the Watchtower he voiced a single phrase that many of those in the room had heard from superman:

“I hate magic!”

Of course, the effect was ruined by how high the clone’s voice was and how his shirt was several times too big for his body.

Zatara snorted as he mumbled a few more words, in ancient Greek Superboy noted, and passed his wand one final time over the clone.

“Whoever did this is extremely powerful. I do not believe it can be undone by anyone other than the being who placed it upon him in the first place.”

Kaldur sat up with a grunt, being careful of his broken right arm, “Can you tell us what it is doing to him?”

The cast made Superboy angry. Just like Robin’s cracked ribs, the mess of bruises that covered Artemis’ entire body, Wally’s broken ankle and cracked jaw, and Ma’gann’s nosebleeds when she tries to use her powers. It was all signs that he had failed to protect his team. Superboy clenched the metal examination table and it groaned in protests as it bent slightly.

A hand covered and gently squeezed his. Looking up Superboy was a little shocked to see Black Canary smiling down at him.

“I don’t think Manhunter would like you denting his medical equipment Superboy.”

Her voice was calm, soothing even, and Superboy released his grip on the table but didn’t move it from under Canary’s. Part of his brain, the Cadmus educated part, told him that it was her using her sound manipulation. This time, for some reason, he just didn’t care.

“Not doing, child, did. It has changed him from his normal body to that of a toddler.” Zatara started, making his wand disappear with a puff off white smoke.

Superboy giggled quietly at the trick.

“With a change in the body there is always a change in the mind. Even more so in this case than usual. Given that his cells were so young to begin with, barely six months old, they are adapting to this younger body rapidly. Which means your powers are at half their regular strength and….” The old wizard trailed off, looking at Canary for help.

“And it means that, sooner or later, you’re going to start processing things like a toddler. Very emotional and energetic.” Canary added in, squeezing the clone’s hand gently.

Superboy frowned as the Cadmus part of his brain supplied him with information about toddlers, “So, like Wally then.”

On the other side of the room both Artemis and Robin laughed, the latter quieter than usual on account of his bandaged ribs. Wally pouted, unable to retaliate because of his cracked jaw.

Zatara waited for them to be done before speaking again, “In short, Superboy, be careful. I personally recommend staying with an adult. Perhaps Superman…”

“No.” Superboy’s blue eyes were ice and his lips pressed into a firm line, “I stay with my team.”

“Superboy, I don’t think that’s…..” Canary started, but the black haired boy was having none of that.

“No!” his voice rose a few octaves, “I’m staying with my team!”

Canary was about to argue but a look from Zatara told her it wasn’t worth arguing. As canary worked her magic and calmed Superboy down and away from the tantrum he was working himself up for, Zatara found himself happy that his Zatanna was no long that young. Teenage rebellion was a lot better than a toddler’s tantrums.

The doors to the med bay slid open and the black cloud of anger and worry known as Batman swooped down upon Robin’s form. After making sure his charge was okay and patched up to his standards, batman rounded on the team leader.

“What. Happened.” Batman growled as he stalked across the med bay and to Kaldur.

Before anyone could process what happened, a black blur slammed into Batman and sent him to the other side of the med bay. Superboy stood on Kaldur’s right side, hands up and feet spread in the stance Canary had taught him.

“Leave Kaldur alone.” He growled, his eyes back to the same hard blue they were a few moments ago, “It’s not his fault.”

Batman rose from the ground with a vengeance as Canary placed tried to calm Superboy, only for it to end in a flurry of blows and blocks as Superboy continued to defend his teammate from the perceived attack.

“I thought you said he was at half his normal abilities Zatara.” Batman watched the exchange with a critical eye, waiting for an opening to incapacitate the child.

“He’s a toddler with powers bound to his emotions, this was bound to happen.” Zatara’s wand was in his hand. He had seen enough angry Kryptonians to be prepared.

“He’s never been that fast.”

“It’s a tantrum Batman, kids always do things you never thought they could when they throw one.”

Superboy’s height change worked in his favor and slipped under Canary’s guard, sending her flying back a bit.

Batman had enough, “Aqua Lad, calm your teammate or I’ll put him down.”

Kaldur snapped out of his stupor and gently laid his good hand on Superboy’s shoulder, “It is okay Superboy. Batman was merely going to ask about the mission.”

“He was going to hurt you!” Superboy protested, the bed shaking slightly as he stomped his foot.

“No, he was not. He is merely upset that Robin, I mean we, got injured on the mission.”

Superboy’s shoulders sagged as the fight drained out of him, “He didn’t have to be so mean about it.”

Robin snickered and Batman silenced him with a glare.       

Kaldur eyed Batman warily before replying, “He did not mean it. But you need to apologize to both him and Canary. You should not have attacked them.”

Superboy plopped down next to the Atlantean, “Only if he apologizes first.”

All eyes were on Batman as he stared down, for the first time in his career, a toddler. After a few minutes hit bit one out in Swahili.

Superboy responded in the same language before turning to Canary and doing the same in English.

“Now then,” Batman started, keeping his voice level, “what happened?”


	2. Decleration on Intent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mission went south fast. This is how it happened.

Kaldur glanced around the med bay, “I’m afraid I can only tell so much of the tale Batman. After a point, we were separated from each other.”

“Tell me what you can.” Batman responded, taking care not to anger the glaring toddler on the bed next to the Atlantean.

One tantrum, Batman decided, was enough for today.

Superboy continued to glare through half-lidded eyes.

“We arrived in the shipping yard,” Kaldur started, resting a calming hand on Superboy’s shoulders, “and there were no immediate signs of the target. After searching for an hour or so we were ready to leave…”

* * *

 

“Alright, he’s obviously not here. Can we go now?” Wally stated as he skidded to a stop next to Artemis.

“Sorry to say it but KF is right. We’ve looked everywhere. Time to call it quits.” Robin added from his place on top of a pile of crates.

“Miss Martian, I take it you have not detected any other presences?” Kaldur asked, nodding towards the Martian as she faded in from invisibility.

“Sorry. I can’t seem to find anything.”

“Then it is time to go home.”

“And here I thought you hero types were supposed to be persistent and vigilant. I’ve been watching you all for hours and you still haven’t found me. No wonder you’re the sidekicks.” A voice to their left called out mockingly.

Artemis fired an arrow on instinct, spooked by the sudden appearance.

The figure snatched the arrow out of the air before it could hit, “Nice reflexes there kid.”

Taking a few steps out of the shadows, the speaker revealed himself to be an adult with short black hair clothed in a black bodysuit and green cargo pants.

“Now then, who’s first?” he asked as he slid into a casual fighting stance.

Superboy charged in first, only for all his attacks to be dodged. Growling in frustration, Superboy moved to tackle his opponent and was thrown into M’gann for all his efforts.

“Wait a minute….you’re….” Their opponent mumbled as he fended off Robin and Kaldur.

The exchange continued for a few minutes with the stranger blocking, diverting, and throwing the teammates into each other.

“Alright kiddies, let’s try something different. Your teamwork sucks.”

With a stomp an earth wall shot up between each member of the team, separating them from each other.

Kaldur blinked as he was suddenly standing on a round platform in the middle of an ocean.

“So you’re Kaldur’ahm, this Earth’s Aqualad.” The figure appeared to his left, holding a mask in his hands, “Its time you were tested.”

Placing the fanged half-mask over his mouth, he slid into a fighting stance, “My name is Breaker. Come at me as if your life depended on it.”

Kaldur’s water bearers snapped into blades as he charged forward, only for them to be met by similar ones made of earth. No matter what weapon Kaldur tried he couldn’t seem to land a blow on his opponent.

“Come on Atlantean, you can do better than this!” Breaker mocked as he parried another swipe of a blade, “Show me what you can really do.”

Kaldur launched himself forward, unleashing another flurry of blows that forced his opponent to take half a step back. Weathering the blows, Breaker slipped under Kaldur’s guard and sent him flying off the platform with a single kick and crashing into the water below.

“Now you’re in your natural element Atlantean, show me what your lauded Sorcery can do.”

Kaldur surfaced for a moment, launching two bus sized eels at his opponent followed by several blasts of high pressure water. They all failed to hit his opponent, who sliced through the two eels and dodged the water blasts before throwing one of his swords and slamming it into Kaldur’s forehead with the hilt.

“Pathetic Aqualad. It’s amazing that you’ve made it this far with skills like those.” Kaldur barely dived down fast enough to avoid a second hit to the head, “I’ll tell you what: one free shot and you better give it everything you have.”

Kaldur dived deeper, contemplating his next move. He sheathed his water bearers, if he wanted it all he would give him it all.

Kaldur’s tattoos lit up with a blinding light as the water around him began to writhe and take shape. It grew bigger and bigger as he channeled more and more magic, his tattoos as bright as the sun and his eyes alight with the same harsh glow. Slowly rising to the surface on the head of his creation, Kaldur struggled to keep it together as the magic burned through him.

Breaker whistled as Kaldur broke the surface, his creation lowering the sea level as it towered above his opponent.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about. A real challenge.”

Kaldur’s titanic eel crackled with electricity as it roared it’s master’s challenge.

“You wanted it all,” Kaldur roared, “have it all!”

The eel surged forward at its master’s command, crashing down on Breaker with all of the ocean’s fury. Once Kaldur was certain he had his opponent he commanded it to implode, forcing thousands of pounds of pressure on Breaker and knocking himself off of the platform.

A few moments later, Kaldur hauled himself back onto the platform feeling more drained than he ever had before. Catching his breath as best he could, Kaldur looked around for any sign of his adversary.

Clapping came from his left and, in that moment, Kaldur knew true terror. Breaker stood there, looking no worse for wear other than wet clothes and a few scratches on his right arm.

“Well done Aqualad, very well done. There’s that spark of potential I knew you had in there.”

Breaker crouched down next to the exhausted teen, “How’s it feel to know that one day you’ll be able to stand up there with the Gods and Monsters?”

Kaldur didn’t respond, instead digging deep down into the bottom of his magical reserves and gathering up one final electric charge. Aiming for the face, Kaldur lashed out one final time in hopes of accomplishing some kind of result.

However the result wasn’t something he wanted. His arm was caught and, with a deafening snap, his arm was snapped in three different places.

“So close. But I think it’s time you rejoined your friends.”

Breaker rose to his feet, ignoring how Kaldur was screaming in pain, and snapped his fingers. Next thing Kaldur knew he was back in the shipping yard with Artemis’ voice echoing.

“This is Artemis, designation B07, to Watchtower requesting immediate aid. Our mission failed and several teammates are critically injured. I repeat, this is Artemis, designation B07, requesting…”

* * *

 

“And that is when I lost consciousness. I awoke here and I would believe you know the story from there Batman.” Kaldur finished.

Batman turned towards the others, “And you all had a similar experience? Isolated into single combat then returned to where you started?”

Zatara moved closer to Kaldur as the other members gave their affirmation and waved his wand over him.

“You’re lucky young man, that stunt you pulled could have easily burnt out you magical ability.” He stated gravely.

Kaldur nodded, “It is not an experience I wish to repeat.”

Batman turned towards Artemis, “How are you less injured then your teammates?”

Artemis shrugged, “My encounter involved a lot of arrows. Except his were blunted and hit a lot like Green Arrow’s Boxing glove arrows. But his skill was unreal; he didn’t just dodge my shots but would pluck my arrows out of the air and fire them back at me. I only got into hand to hand range once and he nearly impaled me with one of my own arrows. Never once did he conjure anything made of earth.”

“He played fair.” Robin whispered, “He didn’t use anything more then what we could do. Most of our fight he only hit about as hard as you Batman. The only reason my ribs got kicked was because I managed to sneak up on him and he reacted without thinking.”

Batman grimaced at how dejected his charge sounded, “Is there anything else that could help us find him? Anything he said.”

“I think he’s going to go after Superman.”

Everyone’s gaze turned towards the smallest occupant in the room, who in turn pressed himself closer to Kaldur.

“What makes you think that Superboy?” Canary asked gently, her hands in a non-threatening pose.

“When we were fighting, he asked me a lot of questions and seemed to think I had a lot more powers than I do.”

* * *

 

Superboy growled as he was sent flying by a punch that rattled his teeth. Scrambling to his feet he leveled a glare at his opponent who rolled out of the way for no apparent reason. Breaker spared a glance at the spot where he was as if he was expecting to see something.

“What, no eye lasers? That’s…unexpected.”

Superboy took the chance to surge forward as fast as he could and threw a punch aimed at his opponents head. It was blocked by a faster hand and a series of rapid punches slammed into his rib cage, knocking the wind out of him.

“Why are you so slow? You’re fighting for your life kid, don’t hold back.” Breaker’s muffled voice sounded adgitated as he disappeared for a second.

Superboy barely got his arms up in time to block the kick to his head.

“I’m not! Holding back!” Superboy quickly grabbed the offending leg and pulled, slamming Breaker into the ground and lunging to connect several of his strongest blows before he was thrown off.

“No super speed, no eye lasers, no titanic strength, no flight. Man, you must not spend enough time in the sun or something.”

Superboy stuffed down the rage inside as he rolled through the toss and onto his feet, “Even if I had those powers, I wouldn’t know because there’s no one around to teach me.”

Breaker’s eyebrows furrowed, “No Superman?”

“He wants nothing to do with me.”

“No Supergirl?” Breaker questioned again, “Or even Power Girl?”

“None of them.”

Superboy lunged forward again, throwing combo after combo at his now distracted enemy only for each blow to be blocked and parried.

“So you became a hero before you even had a chance to be a child…Great, now I’m obligated to act.”

Superboy blinked as Breaker dodged a punch and slammed a glowing palm above his heart. The clone dropped to the ground as fire burned through his body. Breaker patted his shoulder.

“Sorry, but its gonna hurt for a while. I’ll send you back to your team but now I definitely have some business to attend to. Some people just need to have things beat into their heads.”

Last thing Superboy saw was a bright flash before he lost consciousness.

* * *

 

Superboy decided that hiding under Robin’s cape was better than trying to worm himself under Kaldur and made his move while everyone was processing what he had told them.

“Not whelmed.” Superboy whispered in response to Robin’s questioning look.

The other boy grinned and threw part of his cape over the toddler, obscuring him from view.

“We need to warn Superman.” Batman stated.

Canary snorted, “If he’s going to get a beat down for being a bad parent, I’m having a hard time finding a reason to warn him.”

“Canary…” Zatara warned, hoping to keep the peace.

“Whether or not he deserves the beating, he should be warned.” Batman stated, turning on his heel and leaving the med bay with Zatara following close behind.

“When can we go home?” M’gann asked, speaking up for the first time in the past few hours.

“As soon as you’re ready to.” Canary responded, “We’ll take the Zeta tubes.”

“Good. I’m starting to miss my own bed.” Robin commented and Wally nodded in agreement.


	3. Reflections Sunny Side up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Superboy is bored and Artemis takes it upon herself to amuse him. In the silence the team takes time to talk about the change.

The first three days back in Mount Justice were easy. Everyone was still recovering and they were forbidden to speak of the two times Superboy had fallen into the toilet. Especially not after the last time Wally attempted to make a joke about it and Superboy almost gave him a concussion with a thrown apple.

It was on the fourth day, when Robin could kind of talks and Artemis didn’t have to carry around ice packs that things changed.

In Superboy’s own opinion, he had been really patient. Sure he had thrown a apple at Wally, but that’s because the jerk made fun of him for falling into the toilet. It’s not his fault that everything is so much bigger! Even his shirt was too big but Canary had brought a bunch of clothes yesterday that fit and even a seat so he wouldn’t fall in the toilet anymore.

Not that any of his teammates knew that, it was in his bathroom and Canary had hidden it under his clothes when she brought it.

She was nice like that.

Superboy paused in his eating and shook his head. He needed to concentrate and it was getting harder to do each day.

“I’m bored.”

Everyone paused in their various forms of eating to look at him. Superboy folded his arm and sat up straighter, trying to look serious despite sitting on top of a pile of books.

“I’m sure we can find something to do Superboy. There’s a lot to do in the base.” M’gann said, setting her fork down. Her pancakes smelled funny to Superboy, probably because she burnt them.

“Everything here is boooooring.” He not-whined, “I live here all the time. I’ve watched every movie, all the books are full of stuff I already know of guess the end of and I can’t train because I’m too small to do anything useful.”

Kaldur, who was sitting to Superboy’s right, placed a hand on his shoulder, “There is not much we can do Superboy. Going outside is dangerous because Breaker…”

“Breaker isn’t even after us!” Superboy interrupted, “He’s mad at Superman and that’s who he’s going after. I wanna go outside!”

Wolf whined in the corner as Superboy’s voice went higher and the other member of the team shot questioning glances at each other, none of them knew how to stop the toddler’s tantrum.

“I’ll take him.”

Everyone turned to look at Artemis as she put her dishes in the sink. She turned around and met their stares with a raised eyebrow.

“What? I’m the least injured one here, I can keep up with him and I can carry a crossbow with me.” She looked at Superboy, “Go get real clothes on and we’ll go when you’re ready. And don’t forget your shoes.”

As the excited toddler dashed out of the room Kaldur refocused his gaze on Artemis as she cleared Superboy’s spot at the bar.

“Are you sure this is wise Artemis?”

She shrugged as she wiped the excess syrup off the plate with a rag, “Wise or not, it’s the only option we’ve got. None of are in any shape to stop him if he had worked himself up and honestly? He’s right. Even I’m feeling a bit caged in just laying around the base. It’s a base of operations, not my home.”

She paused, “Sorry M’gann.”

The martian shook her head as she took a drink, “It’s okay. Some days it doesn’t feel quite right to me either. I can only imagine how Superboy feels.”

“Besides, there’s a park three blocks away. Completely safe.”

“And what if Breaker shows up?” Kaldur pushed.

“Then I signal the Watchtower, tell Superboy to run, and hopefully hold him off long enough for one of the League’s heavy hitters to back me up.”

Kaldur sighed, “While I do not believe it is wise, I do believe that Superboy would benefit from some fresh air and exercise. I will inform Red Tornado after you have left.”

Superboy skidded back into the room with a smile on his face and his shoes untied. He frowned when he saw that Artemis was still standing where she had been a when he left.

“I’m ready! I even went to the bathroom! Come on Artemis, lets goooo!”

“I did not need to know that.” Robin said with a smirk.

Wally tapped a response in Morse code on the back of his best friend’s hand that had Robin laughing and holding his ribs.

Artemis smiled a bit as she was dragged out the room, “Whoa kid. I’m not ready yet. Come on, I’ve got to change my shirt and you have to tie you shoes. Come on now, I saw you do it yesterday.”

“My fingers are being stupid and making it hard.”

“Well, then you have to try again.”

As the pair of voices faded down the hall everyone in the room let out a breathe they hadn’t realized they were holding.

“Okay, so are we gonna talk about this or just keep avoiding it like reasonable teenagers?” Robin finally broke the silence.

“I am assuming you are talking about Superboy’s current condition.” Kaldur responded with a raised eyebrow.

“Not a chance. It’s more like how there’s finally food on base now that Wally can’t eat anything solid.” Robin snickered as Wally tapped out a response.

“Wally, don’t be rude. Even if it is nice that Robin can’t stalk us from the shadows with his laugh anymore.” M’gann translated as she hid her smirk behind a hand.

Kaldur shook his head at his team mate’s antics. If nothing else the failed mission had somehow brought the team closer.

“Back to the original topic. I hope you all are…coping as well as Artemis is.” But even he knew when to rein them in.

Wally tapped the bruise on the right side of his forehead.

“Wally, you asked for that one.” M’gann responded, “But it does prove that he is more emotional than usual. I’ve seen more emotions in the past four days than the whole time I’ve known him. Not that it’s been very long but still.”

“Honestly I think it’s good for him.” Robin spoke up, “I mean, we all had a chance a childhood before we put on the tights. Miss M, you had one on mars, Kaldur in Atlantis, Wally in Central City, and I had mine. But Superboy? He was grown in a tube, taught in a tube and his first real world experience was fighting the people who created him. I think he deserves a shot.”

The room was silent as everyone processed what Robin had said. Robin took that time to finish his plate and stick it in the sink.

“I did not think you could be so openly wise Robin.” Kaldur remarked.

“I’m a man of many surprises Kaldur.”

With that the kitchen lights flickered out and Robin was gone, his laugh echoing through the room. Wally’s finger nearly cracked the tabletop in frustration.

“I agree Wally. He does need to stop hacking the PA system for dramatic escapes.”

* * *

 

Artemis could say that she had never seen Superboy so genuinely happy, other than when he brought Wolf home from a mission. If anyone had ever asked her why she was so readily accepting Superboy’s age, and personality, change it was because she knew it was for the best. She and anger were old friends but it seemed like that was all Superboy knew most the time.

And the fact that he was a cute toddler certainly helped.

“Artemis, are you watching?”

“Yep. Keep going kid, you’re almost to the end.”

Superboy’s tongue was stuck between his teeth and his arms straight out as he attempted to finish the balance beam. His center of gravity was so off he could barely walk straight most the time, let alone a balance beam. But he was…

Almost…

Two steps.

“Artemis! Look! I did it!”

Artemis smiled back, “Way to go. Can you jump down or do you need help?”

Superboy paused for a second before shaking his head, “I can jump down.”

Taking extra care, he hopped softly and tried his hardest not to make the ground shake when he landed. Looking back he noticed that the balance beam hadn’t moved down any and Artemis was smiling at him, so he did it right and didn’t use his powers.

Spotting something else, Superboy tore off towards it. It looked like a cage, but the holes were too big to hold anything in and he had to look way up to see the top.

“Whoa.”

“It’s called a jungle gym. You climb it.” Artemis supplied as Superboy continued to stare.

“Why?”

“Because it’s fun and you can see a lot from up top.”

“Like at the Watchtower? We could see evvverything from up there.”

“Kind of. Go ahead, I’ll be right behind you.”

Superboy shook his head, “no, that sounds boring. Can you push me on the swings?”

He was already off before Artemis could answer, leaving her to shake her head in disbelief before taking off after him.

“When I make it home, I’m going to apologize to mom for every time I did that to her.”

Superboy frowned as Artemis clicked the buckle on the swing.

“Why can’t I use the other ones?”

“You’re too small for them kid. You’ll fall right out.”

Superboy frowned; keeping up appearances was hard work. Why would anyone want to do it all the time? Secret identities were weird.

Then Artemis pushed the swing high and Superboy would swear he was flying. The happy laugh escaped him before he could stop it as he went higher.

Totally better than jumping.


	4. Hunt: Manta birostris

Black Manta knew something was up when he passes his base mess hall and nobody was in there. With how hard he drilled them, his troopers took whatever time they could to eat and relax in between sessions. Palming a pistol he continued his casual stroll through the base on high alert. When he heard the commotion from one of the training rooms, he quickened his pace and flicked the safety off.

Stepping into the room he paused at the sight of almost all his low ranking troops, and a few higher raking ones, gathered around one of the sparring fields and cheering. The barrier lit up for a second as shots from the training rifles hit it followed by the body of a soldier.

“What is going on here?” Manta asked as he holstered his pistol and drew up to the edge of the crowd.

“This new recruit is taking on four members from Alpha squad!” a soldier, from Zeta squad Manta noted, stated, not tearing his eyes away from the field.

“How long has this been going on?”

“About an hour. I’ve never seen a recruit move like this.” The soldier glanced towards his conversation partner and paled several shades as he realized who he was talking to, “Black Manta, s-sir!”

“As you were. I’m going to get a look at this recruit.” Manta took several steps into the crowd, which quickly parted after they realized it was their commander forcing his way through the crowd.

Manta froze as he got a good look at the recruit. It couldn’t be. Orange shirt, black pants; dark skin, buzzed light hair. There was no way that Kaldur’am would be here without his knowledge. Then he got a look at the eyes: brown with flecks of vibrant green.

A dead giveaway that this is not his son beating his best soldiers in the right with no effort.

The recruit slowly twirled in his hands the training staff as he circled this opponents. One broke off form their formation and charged, his own staff at the ready as the other three laid down suppressing fire. The recruit dived to the left, out of the line of fire, and whipped his staff to the right to meet the officer who had charged. They exchanged blows for a few seconds, the recruit constantly keeping out of the line of fire until the other members of Alpha squad got frustrated enough to draw into close quarters.

That, Manta realized, is where they made their mistake.

The recruit’s stance shifted slightly and his staff cracked across one of the approaching soldiers’ face while his left foot snapped out and hit another in the chest, sending him flying into the barrier. The remaining soldiers spit their attack, the male sweeping his staff low while the female flanked the recruit and whipped hers at his head. The recruit jumped and spun, causing both attacks to miss, and simultaneously smashing the female’s head down and the male’s up with his staff.

Landing solidly, he flourished his staff as the crowd cheered. Manta locked eyes with him and the recruit’s eyes widened a fraction before he smirked. Behind him, seemingly unnoticed, the female member rose shakily to her feet and pulled her rifle out and took aim.

Steadying her stance, she pulled the trigger and Manta mentally noted that she deserved a promotion; perhaps to his honor guard.

The recruit dived to the side as soon as the first training round impacted his shoulder, rolling to one of the unconscious soldiers on the floor and taking their sidearm. He dived one more time, rolling to one knee and firing two shots, forcing his opponent to quit firing to dodge the shots. Using the pause in firing, the recruit darted forward with a kick aimed for his opponent’s head. She twisted to the left and brought her rifle up, popping off two shots. The recruit grunted as the shots hit home and he dropped to the ground with a roll, coming up and charging her again and firing shots. The officer feinted left before returning fire with more accuracy then the recruit. The recruit faltered a step as three more shots hit home but continued his charge, tossing his now empty gun at her head. The officer swatted the gun out of the way and meeting the incoming fist with the butt of her rifle. Her foot snapped out and drilled into his knee, forcing the recruit back, and brought her now free rifle up and fired a few more shots aimed at his head.

He rolled left, the shots impacting the mat under him, and lashed out with his left leg and knocked her to the ground. Moving quickly, he straddled her stomach and launched a right at her head hoping to knock her out. The officer blocked the first two with her rifle, but the recruit tore it out of her hand and slammed his fist home, knocking her out.

As the recruit made his way to his feet, Manta stepped onto the mat.

“You are quite skilled for a recruit. Ruthless as well. Where did you learn how to fight?” Manta Gestured to the female officer, “beating Beta here takes quite some skill.”

The recruit rolled his shoulders, “I learned here and there. I spend a lot of time traveling and you tend to learn some pick this stuff.”

“Ah. I do not believe I have ever seen throwing a handgun be so…effective.” Manta stated as he signaled the medics to pick up Alpha squad.

“Unconventional is kind of my thing.” The recruit stepped closer to Black Manta.

“So you’re Black Manta then?” Manta nodded in confirmation, “You look so much like your son.”

Something in the recruit’s eyes changed and Manta put all of his considerable strength into a kick that slammed into the recruit’s chest.

The recruit didn’t budge an inch.

The recruit backhanded Manta into a wall of earth as the soldiers outside the force field tried to get in to help their leader.

“Black Manta, you’ve fucked up real bad.”

Manta kicked up to his feet, bringing his arms up in a guard, “That is a very broad statement. You are going to have to be more specific.”

The kick broke through his guard and slammed him against the wall again. The recruit reached into a pocket and pulled on a half mask that bared the visage of a fanged roaring mouth.

“In the only way that matters Black Manta, you have fucked up with the only child you have.” A flurry of blows slammed into Manta’s upper body.

“Every child needs a parent and you have not only left yours, which I could have let pass in all honesty, but attacked him on multiple occasions on a grudge with his mentor.”

A vice like grip wrapped itself Manta’s neck, hauling him into the air. Manta scrabbled at the hand and kicked at the chest but it did nothing to loosen the grip.

“W-what,” he gasped, “are you?”

“I’m a wrathful god.” Manta was slammed into the floor, “But you can just call me Breaker.”

Manta blacked out the third time his head was slammed into the ground.

 

Aquaman knew something was wrong when the stone floor in his throne room bubbled up. He was instantly on guard when the floor parted, revealing a battered and bleeding Black manta, stripped down to nothing and a note stabbed into his arm.

Signaling his guards to move in, Aquaman approached cautiously with his trident poised to strike one of his most persistent foes. Black Manta groaned and twitched but made no other move, so the king of Atlantis signaled one of his guards to move in and grab the note while the others called for a medic and were securing their new prisoner.

Aquaman frowned as he read the note, before placing a finger to his ear.

“Aquaman to Watchtower. Get me Batman; I have new information for his case.”


	5. For-Ev-Er

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of the team has to go manage their secret Identities, leaving Superboy to watch the clock for them to get back and Red Tornado to watch him. Superboy is not a patient child.

For the hundredth time today Superboy glanced at the clock, hoping it had magically sprung forward and it was now for his friends to be home in the five minutes since he last looked at the time.

9:20AM.

The frustrated toddler groaned and flopped back on the couch, it was Friday why did they have to go back to school today. They could have stayed here and played with him but nooooooo, they had to go back for one day.

He growled and threw a pillow across the room, “This is stupid.”

“What is the problem Superboy?” a robotic voice intoned curiously.

“I’m bored and I want my friends to come home.”

“Your teammates will return between 11:30AM and 12:20PM.”

Superboy sat up, his face screwed up in concentration as he did the mouth, and pouted.

“That’s for-eeeeever,” he stressed the importance of the forever and stomped his foot so Red would know he was serious, “from now.”

“It is merely—” Red started

“For-ev-er!” Superboy interrupted, his tone petulant.

The toddler and the robot locked gazes, a silent battle of wills clashing. Then Superboy opened his mouth and shrieked at the top of his lungs.

Wolf whimpered in the corner and Red turned audio receptors down. Noticing that Red had, in his mind, given up the staring contest, Superboy stopped shrieking and smiled.

“I win.” The toddler chirped before turning and looking at the TV, seemingly engrossed in the nonsensical cartoon.

“I was…unaware…that we were playing a game.” Red Tornado decided, in that very moment, to devote part of his processor into researching toddler behavior.

Superboy turned and gave him a smile before turning back to the TV, humming along to the song.

For another twenty minutes, Red Tornado had peace. Long enough for him to touch up his audio processors and make sure no one had pinged him for any emergencies. Part of him had hoped someone had.

When the show was over Superboy hopped to his feet and stared at Red once again. Red braced his systems for another shriek.

“I want to go outside.”

“I am sorry Superboy. We cannot go outside.” Red was watching the boy’s body language for any sign of the fearsome tantrum he had heard about.

“Wolf needs to go outside. We should take him for a walk.” Superboy tried again, looking to his pet for support.

Wolf lazily lifted his head from his resting spot, stared at Superboy, and laid his head back down. Superboy glared and muttered traitor under his breath. Wolf huffed and turned away.

“It appears that is not the case.”

Warning signs slowly began to be ticked off in Red’s head as the toddler’s eyes narrowed and his arms folded across his chest.

“I want,” Superboy’s voice cracked slightly, “to go outside.”

“I have already told you Superboy, we cannot go outside.” Red rose to his feet, prepared for the toddler to launch an attack.

Superboy stomped his foot, emphasizing his point, “Outside!”

“No.”

That flipped the switch and the illusion of calm broke around Superboy screamed and lashed out, sending one of the chairs crashing into the wall. Next went the coffee table, sent end over end into the opposite wall. The couch followed it, merging the two into a death reap of glass, leather and steel. A wild kick sent the fallen remote four inches into the wall just above the TV.

Red Tornado watched, his processors frozen, as Superboy destroyed the living room. When he ran out of things to throw and break, the toddler sat down and screamed at the top of his lungs. Wolf, who had long since left the room, growled as Superboy’s voice went higher with no intent of stopping.

“That is enough Superboy.” Red started as the toddler paused to take a breath, but was cut off when he resumed screaming.

Deciding to take the direct route, Red turned his audio to its lowest setting and sat himself in front of the screaming child.

“What is the matter?” He asked calmly, staring at Superboy.

The toddler stopped screaming and stared back. Wolf cautiously poked his head back into the room.

“I cannot help you if I do not know what is wrong.”

Red was prepared for another outburst and spending all night banging dents out of his frame. He did not expect, however, for Superboy to latch onto him and start sobbing. Stunned for a moment, Red reached down and awkwardly patted the boy’s back.

“It is…okay.” Red tried, confusion creeping into his voice. He did not know how to handle this situation.

“I want my friends.” Superboy managed to get out in between sobs.

“They will return soon.” Red decided that adding ‘it is no reason to cry’ would be a bad idea.

Toddlers were not, in his summation, bound by the rules of logic. The pair sat there for a while, Red switching from patting Superboy’s back to rubbing circles and Superboy’s sobs breaking down to cries, than to sniffles, then to silence.

“Are you better now Superboy?” Red asked softly, still worried about setting the small boy off again.

“I have to po—go to the bathroom.” Superboy corrected himself mid-sentence, aware enough to prevent something more embarrassing from slipping out.

“Is that something you will require assistance with?” Red asked as he helped Superboy get to his feet.

“Nope. I’m a big boy.”

Superboy’s face went red and he slapped his hands over his mouth as soon as the last phrase left his mouth. Red merely chalked it up to toddler behavior and stood up.

“If that is the case, I shall attempt to return the living room to how it was before.”

As Superboy ran off to the bathroom, Red surveyed the damage to the room. The table and couch were unsalvageable. Replacements would have to be brought out from storage. Two shape bursts of wind had the chairs back in their original place; a vortex dislodged the remote from the wall. Red moved onto his next task with his usual mechanical precision, not thinking about how someone so small had caused such destruction. 

* * *

 

When the fifteen minute mark passed and Superboy had not returned , Red found himself walking faster than usual towards the boy’s room. A feeling akin to concern was running through his head as he bypassed the lock on the door and took several measured steps to the bathroom door.

“Superboy?” He asked his voice just loud enough to be heard clearly through the door.

When no response came, Red opened the door faster than he usually would. His eyes scanned the room for any sign of Superboy, finding him sitting on the toilet. Upon closer inspection the boy’s eyes were closed; he was rested against the tank, his arms were limp, and his breathing was even.

He had merely fallen asleep.

“Superboy.” Red repeated, this time louder, while tapping his shoulder.

“Red? Why you in bathroom?” the toddler’s voice was groggy as his half lidded eyes rested on Red.

“You fell asleep while on the toilet.” Red stated calmly, “It is not the ideal place for a nap.”

Superboy whined, but sat up nonetheless and got off the toilet. Red turned his back and allowed Superboy to finish his business. A minute late, Red felt a tug on his cape and turned around once more.

Superboy stood there with his arms outstretched, “Up.”

Red regarded him for a moment, “You need to have pants on Superboy.”

Sleepy blue eyes glared at him but he turned around and pulled on the pair of underwear that had fallen to the floor when he had fallen asleep earlier. Then the arms were outstretched again and the command repeated.

This time Red obliged, accessing the internet to find the proper way to carry him, and before he was back to the reconstructed living room he could hear the soft snores as Superboy fell back to sleep. As Red sat down on the new couch, there was a slight hitch in Superboy’s breathing.

“’M sorry Red.” He mumbled, “bout the fit. ‘N breakin’ stuff.”

“It is fine Superboy. It has been taken care of.” Red paused for a second before adding, “Though do try and avoid such a mess next time.”

“Use m’ words.” Superboy agreed as he nestled his head back into Red’s shoulder, dozing back to sleep.

Certain that Superboy was fully asleep this time, Red used his free hand to pull up the schematics of his other, human, body. Perhaps now would be a good time to work on finishing it.

* * *

 

Red heard the tubes activate long before he heard the noise of the team returning to base. With a sigh he put his schematics away and rose to his feet, careful to avoid jostling the still sleeping Superboy.

“I would recommend,” he started as the team made their way into the room, “you keep your voices down to avoid waking Superboy.”

The team took in the odd sight of their “den mother” carrying a sleeping Superboy and moved their conversation into the kitchen, keeping their voices low.

Then Wally had to voice the obvious burning question: “What happened to his pants?”

Red Tornado did not tell the team that Superboy had fallen asleep on the toilet. Something told him it would lead to another tantrum and the base only had so much spare furniture.


	6. As a Team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team bonding can be done in a number of different ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's an added bit at the end that got cut off in the first posting.

While the rest of his team was participating in a light training session, as they were healed enough to do just that, Superboy was confronting a much hated old toy: the punching bag.

He hated it when he was big, which seemed like forever ago, because he would always break the chain, or rip the bag, or send it flying into the back wall of the room. But now when Superboy hauled back and hit it, it swayed just like when Canary had shown it to him the first time. A smile crept across his face as he moved his hands into position.

Up in his room above the main level of the base, a chill ran through Red Tornado’s circuits as he worked on his human body and he found himself glad that he was not the one in charge of watching Superboy today.

A rhythmic series of smacks interrupted the drill as Canary turned her head towards the source. A smile spread across her face as she spotted Superboy, face screwed up in concentration, going through the series of strikes she had taught him months ago. There were a few flaws, like he kept overreaching , but his form was still better than most. Turning back to the other members of the team, she signaled them to resume the drill and come at her.

The grown up part of his brain, as Superboy had taken to calling it, kept telling him how to move as he played with the punching bag. It kind of hurt his head but he was having too much fun to care as he stepped to the left and kicked the bag away. Right, right, left, uppercut, left again. Step left. Then Superboy paused, forgetting which was his left and which was his right, and the bag swung into him and knocked him to his butt.

Standing up, he glared at it, “Stupid thing.”

Deciding that he was done with the punching bag, because he was sweaty not because it hit him, Superboy sat on one of the benches and tried to wait for everyone to be done with their drills. After a few minutes he started to kick his feet back and forth. He bit back a giggle as he watched his feet, it was kind of funny how they didn’t reach the ground. After that stopped being funny, he started drumming his fingers, playing a really cool song. But it didn’t sound right so he stopped playing it.

That’s when Red walked calmly into the room and locked eyes with Superboy.

“I require your assistance with a task Superboy. Do you wish to help?”

Superboy smiled, raising his arms as an open invitation. As Red walked out of the room with the happy toddler talking about how he had used the punching bag right for the first time ever, he caught Canary mouthing a thank you as she worked on fixing M’gann’s stance.

A few hours later Superboy, covered in oil and grease, came running into the kitchen.

“Whoa there Supes,” Wally caught him before he could cover the kitchen, “where’s the fire?”

“Me and Red finished a project! You gotta come see!” the toddler squirmed, trying to get down, “It’s really awesome!”

“Sure. If it’s as cool as you say I don’t think we could miss it.” Robin said with a grin as he rose to his feet.

Wally set the bundle of energy down, frowning at the stains on his clean shirt, and the team followed him into the main room just below Red’s room. Standing in the center of the room conversing with Canary was a well built, bald man clothed in only a pair of red pants. Superboy ran up to him before anyone could stop him and pointed.

“See, me and Red did this. I helped with the wiwing.” Superboy frowned, “Wire-ing. Wireing.”

The man’s hand patted Superboy’s head, “You also did some of the skeletal work.”

As Superboy smiled M’gann was the one who figured it out.

“Red Tornado? Is that you”” She asked, taking a few steps closer.

“No way! How cool!”

Wally moved in fast, circling Red to get a good look while the rest of the team moved in a t a more sedate pace. Superboy, however, was beginning to get annoyed and stuck a foot out to trip him.

“Superboy.” Canary warned.

Ignoring her, Superboy thrust his arms up at Red who shook his head.

“You are dirty Superboy.” He explained as the toddler glared at him, “I cannot pick you up. Perhaps you should take a shower.”

Everyone in the room took a slight step back as narrow blue eyes met green in a contest of wills. Superboy folded his arms and Red responded by crouching down to eye level.

“Fine. I’ll go take a shower.” Superboy grumbled turning and stomping towards his room.

“Will you need assistance Superboy?” Red asked, making everyone turn and look at him.

Superboy blinked for a second, “Yea. The soap doesn’t like me and gets in my eyes.”

Red nodded, “Then I will be along shortly.”

As Superboy walked away considerably happier, Canary voiced what everyone is thinking.

“Are you sure this is appropriate Red?”

Red’s exasperated sigh sounded similar to Kaldur’s, “He will not ask for help even if he needs it. It is far less inappropriate than if one of his teenaged teammates or yourself, Canary.”

As Red walked off to go help Superboy, Kaldur spoke up.

“What are we going to do when Red has to go on a mission and Superboy needs help.”

“Or,” Robin spoke up, “he throws one of his monster tantrums. My ribs are barely healed as it is.”

Canary pinched the bridge of her nose, “I have no idea.”

 

* * *

 

Apparently Superboy’s shower hand only ended with Red Tornado getting just as wet as the toddler. When questioned about it, Superboy would smile and Red would shake his head. Dinner had been peaceful with Red sitting down with them and ensuring Superboy didn’t throw fruit at people whenever someone made a comment that upset him. That led Wally and Robin into asking if Red’s new body could eat. When he answered yes, the conversation broke down into a technical conversation about Red’s body broke food down completely into excess energy. Eventually Superboy, who was done eating, decided to announce that he had to pee and was going to go use the potty, leaving everyone except Red and Artemis confused.

Wally pushed his plate away from him, “Well, there goes my appetite. Why does he keep announcing that?”

“I think it’s because it gets that reaction out of you.” Robin joked as he continued eating, “I know watching you eat was starting to kill my appetite.”

“It is also because, as a toddler, Superboy has no impulse control nor a sense of appropriate vs inappropriate.” Red added, taking Superboy’s empty plate to the sink.

“Honestly, I’d be more worried if he didn’t tell us what he was doing.” Artemis added as she finished her plate.

“Why is that?” Kaldur asked, curious.

“A quiet toddler is a disaster waiting to happen.” Artemis stated, “I know from experience, but you guys should really do some reading. Keep you less outta the dark.”

At that moment, with Superboy’s humming faint in the background, the other members of the team decided to do that.

* * *

 

By the time Superboy had returned the team had settled themselves in the living room and were debating over what movie to watch. M’gann’s high school drama had been vetoed; Robin was arguing his point for watching _Jurassic Park_ ; Wally was rebutting with how flawed the science was and how _Sherlock Holmes_ was a much better choice; Kaldur’s choice, _Anaconda,_ had drawn raised eyebrows abut had been shot down by Wally and M’gann, and Artemis was reminding them that not scaring Superboy should be their main priority.

“I’m not scared by a movie.” Superboy protested as he climbed his way onto the couch, “And I like dinosaurs.”

Kaldur frowned, “Superboy, are you certain that…”

“That I want to watch a movie about super awesome cloned dinosaurs getting revenge on the people who cloned them? Absolutely.”

Robin laughed and stuck his tongue out at Wally, who leaned back in his chair pouting, as he started the movie. Artemis shared a look with Kaldur, hoping he would pull rank and change the movie, but the Atlantean shook his head. There was nothing he could do to change the toddlers mind.

Artemis sighed and took the spot to Superboy’s right, as Robin was on his left, and watched the opening credits. Hopefully it wouldn’t terrorize the Superboy and give him nightmares.

* * *

 

The grown up part of Superboy’s brain told him that there was no way there were dinosaurs in the shadows of his room waiting to eat him; dinosaurs didn’t exist in Happy Harbor. The toddler part of his brain, however, was inconsolable and absolutely certain the a Velociraptor was going to jump out and eat him. The grown up side reminded him that he had superpowers. The toddler side still didn’t care, the dinosaurs were going to eat him.

He wanted to go to Red, but he couldn’t reach the robot’s apartment without help and he was too small to jump that high. He could go to Artemis but she would shake her head and limit the movies he could watch in the future, ‘cus she was nice but he was big enough to watch whatever he wanted. Talking to M’gann was weird cus he was little and she’s from mars. Wally would laugh at him.

That left only one person.

It took all of Robin’s self-control not to throw the batarang he kept under his pillow when he felt someone climb onto his bed. Judging by how much weight had been added and how the person was curling up to his chest it could only be one person.

“Supes, why are you in my bed?” He whispered, pulling his blanket over the smaller boy.

“Couldn’t sleep.” Was the mumbled response, “Dinosaurs in the shadows.”

“Ah.” Robin didn’t want to tell him that there was no way there’d be dinosaurs in the base, “Movie scared you.”

“No.” Superboy protested, “Maybe.”

“Well, don’t worry. Nothing in the dark can hurt you.” Robin shifted ever so slightly, taking pressure off of his still tender ribs.

“Why’s that?” Superboy’s voice was already starting to waver.

“You know the scariest thing that lives there.”

“What is that?” Superboy yawned, shifting closer to Robin.

“Batman.”

Superboy giggled and, in a few moments, was fast asleep. Robin shook his head as made himself as comfortable as he could. In the back of his mind, as he drifted off to sleep himself, he prayed Superboy’s body was past the nightmare and bedwetting phase. He would never live it down if he wasn’t.


	7. Profound Emotional Insight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was shaping up to be a great day until Aquaman and Batman showed up to speak to Kaldur.

Nobody questioned when Robin came out to breakfast carrying a sleeping Superboy. The only response was Wally groaning and handing Artemis a folded bill as Kaldur moved to take Superboy from Robin. Kaldur responded to the raised eyebrow by gesturing to his empty plate in the sink. Handing the boy to Kaldur, Robin took his plate of pancakes from M’gann and sat down. Wally made a joke about a drool stain on his shirt and Robin responded with a quip about his bad luck.

Kaldur took his usual spot in the living room, the left arm chair with the end table, and grabbed his book with his free hand. Normally he would be reading some of the texts his Queen had given him to further his studies but he had traded the book last night for one on toddlers he had found in the base’s library.

A few moments and several chapters later Superboy shifted in his lap, breaking Kaldur’s concentration.

“Good morning Superboy.”

“Mornin’ Kaldur.” Came the sleepy reply, “Sleepy.”

Kaldur patted the toddler’s back gently, “Then go back to sleep. It is still early.”

Superboy shifted again, making himself comfortable as Kaldur adjusted the toddler’s clothes so they covered him instead of riding up and falling down. Kaldur’s spot was under a cooling vent and he would hate for the cold to get the smaller boy sick.

By the time Kaldur had finished the book, which had left his head spinning, Superboy was awake again. Sitting up and stretching, Superboy’s bleary blue eyes met Kaldur’s with another yawn.

“I take it you are awake for good this time?”

Superboy blinked before slumping forward, head butting Kaldur in the chest, “I don’t wanna.”

Kaldur glanced at the clock, “It is too late in the day Superboy. It is time to get up.”

Superboy let out a whine muffled by Kaldur’s chest, “Do I have to?”

“Yes.” Kaldur stated as he sat Superboy up, “Why are you so tired this morning?”

“Didn’t sleep well.” Superboy mumbled as he rubbed his eyes, “Have to go potty.”

Kaldur froze momentarily as he noticed that the toddler had made no move to get up and go on his own.

“Should I get Red Tornado?” he asked hesitantly.

“No.” Superboy leaned forward but Kaldur stopped him.

“Are you going to need help?” was Kaldur’s second question, and he was dreading the answer.

“No. Don’t wanna walk.”

Standing with a half-awake toddler in his arms was a difficulty Kaldur had yet to experience, as Superboy made no effort to move himself into a more manageable position. Taking a faster than normal pace, as to avoid any accident at all, Kaldur headed to Superboy’s room.

“Why do you not want to walk?” Kaldur questioned.

“Sleepy.”

“I see. Perhaps you should not watch movies that would scare you.” Kaldur lightly chastised.

Superboy’s glare lost its effect as he yawned, “That’s stupid. I’m big; I can watch whatever I want.”

“Clearly,” Kaldur stepped into the clone’s room, “that is not the case.”

Superboy stumbled a bit as he was set down and slowly made his way into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. Left standing just outside the door, and knowing better than to leave his teammate alone all together, Kaldur took the time to observe Superboy’s room. When he was his regular age Superboy allowed nobody to see his room, meeting any requests with a glare and a slight growl that barred them from entry. Kaldur had always assumed it was because it was his and he wanted nobody to intrude upon his personal space. He had always believed that Superboy had kept his room immaculately organized and to see it as it was now, with clothes strewn everywhere and looking like a storm had hit.

In retrospect, Kaldur realized, one had. There were more than a few references to toddlers being storms in the book he had read. Realizing that Superboy was going to be taking his time, Kaldur bit back his pride and located where Superboy’s laundry hamper was and began collecting what he could visibly determine was dirty and putting it in there.

“What’re you doing?”

Kaldur paused in his folding of a clean shirt to look at Superboy, “Helping you pick up your room. It was a mess.”

“It was not.” Superboy protested, “You’ve never seen Wally’s room.”

“It is not Wally’s room I am concerned about. Perhaps you could finish picking up your dirty laundry.”

Superboy grumbled but went around collecting the clothes Kaldur hadn’t while the team leader continued folding the clean clothes he had managed to find. Their silence was only interrupted by the occasional sniff from Superboy as he tried to determine whether something was clean or not. After a few minutes, the sporadic sniffing stopped and Superboy jumped on his bed. Kaldur was surprised he had lasted this long.

“I’m bored.”

“You are not dressed.”

Superboy shrugged before removing his sleep clothes and pulling a shirt from the bottom of one of the neat folded piles Kaldur had made. Watching Superboy struggle for a moment, Kaldur reached over and held the shirt straighter so the toddler could fit his arms through. As Superboy moved on to pulling on a pair of shorts, which he put on backwards before Kaldur corrected him, Kaldur found his reservations about interacting with Superboy were gone. It was merely like dealing with the younger classes at the Conservatory in Atlantis and the fact that it was Superboy made no difference.

That’s when Wally zipped into the room, sending up a small cloud of dust.

“Kaldur, Batman and Aquaman are here to talk to you. It seemed important.”

Kaldur nodded, “Very well then. You can help Superboy tie his shoes. Please be sure he does not break the laces, my understanding is that he does not have another set.”

* * *

 

“My King. Batman.” Kaldur greeted as he stepped into the meeting room, “What can I do for you?”

Aquaman moved to speak but batman cut him off, “How is Superboy?”

“He is, unsurprisingly, a toddler.” Kaldur responded with a grin, “But other than that he is doing well.”

Noting the look the two men shared with each other he spoke up again, “But I would assume that we are not here to discuss my teammate’s current magical infliction.”

“Kaldur, tell me what you know about you father.” Aquaman spoke in in a calm voice

It was in that moment that the young Atlantean realized that his day was about to get a lot more stressful.

* * *

 

Superboy was upset and because he was upset everyone around him was miserable. M’gann tried to get him to help her cook and he threw cookie dough at Robin. Artemis tried to make him wash his hands and he smeared cookie dough in her hair. Red Tornado was called in to calm him down and, while he felt bad, Superboy dented his chest with a wild swing.

That’s why he was now stuck sitting in a corner, kicking dents into the wall in frustration.

“I have been told you are having a hard time. Do you wish to talk about it?”

Superboy turned, several words on his tongue that he knew he would get in trouble for saying and all of them died when he caught sight of who was speaking to him. Kaldur’s face, in contrast to a few hours ago, had exhaustion written all over it, his hands were wrapped and his eyes were red.

“Why’re you sad?” was the first question out of Superboy’s mouth.

Kaldur shook his head, shaking off the concern, “We are not here to talk about me. I wish to know why you were giving the others a hard time. You even dented Red. You know better than that.”

“I wanted to see you but they wouldn’t let me.” He mumbled.

“That is no reason…”

“I could hear you were upset.” Superboy blurted out, shocking Kaldur.

“You could…hear?” the Atlantean asked hesitantly.

Superboy nodded, “My ears work super good and I could hear you yelling and crying. I wanted to help but they wouldn’t let me.”

Kaldur sighed and gathered Superboy into his arms as the little boy started crying. He had not considered Superboy’s hearing while he was in his meeting.

“You were not meant to hear that Superboy. Please do not worry about me.”

Kaldur wished that his voice was as steady as it usually was; the wavering was not helping him in his efforts to calm Superboy.

“You’re my friend. I want to help.” Superboy’s voice was muffled by Kaldur’s shirt.

“Your compassion is appreciated Superboy...”

Kaldur stopped mid-sentence as Superboy lifted his head to stare at him.

“It’s okay to cry.”

The sincerity sapped what little bit of emotional composure Kaldur had and tears started to fall from his eyes. Their positions had reversed with Superboy hugging Kaldur and Kaldur crying.

 

In the back of his head a line from the book make itself known, “sudden and profound emotional insight” indeed.


	8. Hunt: Homo Sapien Athleticus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Crock family Reckoning

“Hello Cheshire. We need to have a talk.”

The knives flew from Cheshire’s hands as she dived behind a couch. This was a League safe house, nobody should have known where she was. Quickly slicing open the back of the couch, Cheshire pulled out another set of throwing knives and her sai before flipping over the couch and facing her opponent.

Cheshire would admit, he was attractive and the skin tight body suit left very little for her imagination. His arms were crossed and brown-green eyes bored into hers.

“My, my, my. Who sent such a fine specimen like you after me?” Cheshire circled around him, looking for any kind of hole in his defense or stance.

“Nobody sent me after you Cheshire. I came to find you.”

Cheshire launched forward, preceding her charge with a wave of knives and stabbing forward with her sai in an attempt to end this encounter quickly.

Her charge met thin air.

“I’m not here to fight with you Cheshire. I know you follow your sister’s team and their missions.”

Growling at the mention of her sister, Cheshire launched forward in a flurry of stabs and kicks.

“You leave my sister out of this!”

A vice grip caught her arm and swung her into the ground.

“I mean no harm to your sister or to you.” The man’s voice was calm and level despite holding down a struggling Cheshire, “I am here to find your father Jade Nyugen. Tell me where he is and I will leave you be.”

“How would I know where that dirt bag is?” Cheshire growled, trying to free herself, “I want nothing to do with him.”

“You are League and he works closely with the League. Not to mention that Ra’s places a large amount of faith in family bonds.”

Suddenly Cheshire found herself hauled to her feet facing her opponent.

Brown and green eyes bored into her soul, “So I am going to ask you one last time: Where is your father?”

Cheshire sighed, “You won’t kill him will you?”

The man shook his head, “Be will be injured, defeated, but he cannot serve his purpose dead.”

Cheshire rattled off the last address of the safe-house her father had given her, somewhere in Hong Kong, and she was released. Massaging her shoulder where she had been held in place she spared a glance at her adversary.

“You said he had a purpose to serve, what is it?” She asked.

“You’ll find out soon enough.” He glanced over his shoulder as a portal tore itself in front of him, “Just be sure to answer any calls from your mom Jade. It’ll be important and she’d like to hear from you.”

Cheshire blinked and the man was gone along with all the damage that had been done to the safe house, even her knives had been returned to their hiding spots. There was absolutely no sign of there ever having been a conflict. With a slight frown marring her face, Jade moved to the room that was serving as her bedroom and fished out a phone from the bottom of her bag and quickly dialed a number.

“We need to talk.”

* * *

 

Lawrence Crock, known to the world at large as the criminal Sportsmaster, was training against several of the League’s initiates to pass the time between his assignments. It was hardly a challenge, he noted to himself as he threw one initiate into three of the others; his daughters would have made a better challenge.

“Enough.” He called out, ending the training session, “go get cleaned up and train. Today’s performance was pathetic.”

The initiates bowed and limped off to their quarters to lick their wounds. Lawrence stood in the courtyard for a few moments, calming himself from the session.

“That was almost impressive Lawrence Crock.” A voice rang out, “How would you like to try yourself against a well-trained opponent?”

Lawrence barely managed to roll out of the way of the attack from his left, the attack kicking up a cloud of dust where it landed courtyard. Managing to make out an outline amidst the dust, Lawrence launched a javelin, cursing when he heard the tell-tale sound of metal hitting stone. Pulling out another javelin in a guard position, Lawrence waited for the dust to clear.

That was his mistake.

The attack came from the left, leading with an axe kick that snapped the javelin and followed up with a flurry of kicks slamming into his body. When he caught his wind and got his guard up his attacker was gone.

“You’re not very well trained in stealth for someone who trains with the League of Shadows. Actually, you’re pretty terrible at it.”

“Say that to my face!” Lawrence spat out.

“Fine.”

The fist that impacted his face would have sent Lawrence flying if the same hand that had punched him hadn’t grabbed his ankle and slammed him into the ground.

“You need to be careful Lawrence, calling me out like that is a bad idea.” A pair of green and brown eyes entered his field of view, “You can’t take a hit like others on my list.”

Lawrence spat blood at his attacker who responded by sending him flying with a kick to the ribs.

“It’s time for you and me to take a little trip Lawrence. You have something to do.”

The last thing Lawrence saw a fist coming towards his face before darkness filled his vision.

 

* * *

 

Artemis frowned as she looked around the clearing, “I know you’re here Jade. Come out and get this over with, you said it was important.”

“It is.”

Artemis whipped in the direction of the voice, arrow drawn and ready to fire. Jade put her hands up in a submissive gesture.

“Nice reflexes.”

“It’s what keeps me alive.” Artemis said with a smirk as she lowered her bow, “So what brings you here?”

“I was attacked.” Jade stated.

“You work for the League of Shadows, that’s kind of a job requirement.”

“Not if you’re doing the job right.” Jade rolled her eyes, “But this one was different. He busted into a league safe house, looking for me.”

Artemis’ eyes widened and she glanced over her sister for any visible signs of a fight, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. It was weird, he just came looking for dad and wanted nothing to do with me other than that.”

“What did he look like?”

“It’s his eyes that I remember, other than how fast he moved; they were a mix of brown and green.”

“Built like a tank with the body of a Roman God?” Artemis added.

“Yeah. How’d you know that?”

“His name is Bringer and you’re lucky to come out of that safe and sound. He attacked my team a while back and hit us hard.” Artemis frowned, “You said he was after Dad?”

“Said that he had some part to play.”

“Great. Another mystery to add to the pile.” Artemis grumbled.

Then Artemis’ phone went off and she answered it quickly, mouthing the word mom to Jade. After a few seconds she froze.

“Artemis? What’s wrong?”

The blond held up a finger before replying to their mom. The conversation continued for a bit, with it ending as Artemis reassuring their mom that she’d be home as soon as possible.

“Damnit Artemis, what’s up with mom?!” Jade demanded.

Artemis shook her head, “Not here. We need to go see her. Both of us.”

“I can’t-” Jade started but Artemis cut her off.

“Breaker just visited her.”

Jade’s face went stony, “We’ll take my ride.”


	9. A little Fresh Air

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Team plans to wear Superboy out by spending the day at the beach. Too bad they don't know about Kryptonian physiology and sunlight.

There was one thing to be said about living near the beach: you live near the beach. In an effort to keep Superboy entertained and, by proxy, their base in one piece; the team voted unanimously to spend as much of the day as they could on the beach in hopes that the sun and fresh air would tire the toddler out faster.

Red frowned, “What if he needs to use the restroom? Data shows there are no restrooms near the part of the beach.”

“I won’t have to use the bathroom.” Superboy stated as he looked up from his snack.

“Data shows you use the bathroom every forty-five minutes Superboy.”

Superboy pouted as the team moved around him getting things ready. They had been tossing around ideas to solve just that problem all morning but nothing had stuck.

“You sound like you have a suggestion Red.” Wally spoke up from his position making sandwiches.

He ate the most so he had to make his own, especially since M’gann’s powers weren’t back yet. Nobody else could eat the thirty sandwiches he knew he would eat.

“Perhaps you could use di-”

“NO!”

Three things happened when Superboy yelled: Superboy threw his plate at Red at near sonic speeds, Kaldur and Artemis simultaneously knocked the plate out of the way, and Wally moved over to Superboy to restrain him from doing anything else.

“Superboy,” Artemis shot the struggling toddler a look, “We’ve talked about this. You’re not supposed to throw things like that.”

Superboy glared at Red, “Doesn’t matter. I’m not a baby.”

Red tilted his head, “It was merely a suggestion. And technically speaking you are under twenty weeks old.”

Wally had to dig his heels into the ground to keep Superboy from lunging across the table at Red.

“Someone help me here. Preferably someone with super strength.” Wally grunted.

Robin moved and made eye contact with the enraged toddler.

“Supes, you want to go to the beach today right?”

Superboy nodded, pausing in his rage for a moment.

“You want to play in the sand and the water?”

Superboy nodded again.

“Then stop trying to attack Red or we’ll go without you.”

Superboy froze before sitting calmly in his chair, pointedly not looking at Red as the android left the room.

“And that’s how it’s done ladies and gentlemen.” Robin said with a little bow.

Wally whistled, “Scary. You learn that from Bats?”

“You know it.”

Artemis took that as her cue to talk to Superboy, taking Robin’s recently vacated seat.

“Whether you like it or not Superboy, it’s one of our only options. Red is right about there being no bathrooms on the part of the beach we’re going to.”

“Why can’t I just pee in the water?” The toddler grumbled.

“It’s bad for the fish.” Kaldur answered.

“It’s where we’ll be swimming.” Robin added.

“It’s gross.” M’gann chimed in.

Superboy pointed to Wallly, “Why can’t he just run me to the bathroom when I have to go.”

Wally rolled his eyes even though no one could see him, “Because you go to the bathroom five hundred times a day Supes and running you every single time would stop me from having fun. You want everyone to have as much fun as you are right?”

Superboy growled but didn’t answer him, giving Artemis a chance to continue working her magic.

“Look Superboy, the only reason we’re suggesting this is in case you do have an accident.”

“I haven’t had one! Ever!” Superboy protested.

“We know that. But, since Wally can’t run you every single time you have to go, it might happen. We’re not saying we won’t take you to the bathroom, and if you have to go bad Wall will run you to go, but they’re just a one time thing.”

“One time. And I don’t have to use them.” Superboy stated.

“Better to have it and not need it…” Artemis started.

“Then to need it and not have it.” Superboy finished dejectedly, “So much for being a big boy.”

“No one is saying you aren’t Superboy. Think of this as…an insurance policy.”

“And they’re not really dia….what Red was totally going to say but not me,” Wally corrected himself as Superboy and the others glared at him, “What Red’s talking about is more like underwear, that’s absorbent and waterproof. You’ll never notice the difference.”

M’gann leaned over to Kaldur, “Do you have any idea what they’re talking about?”

Kaldur shook his head, “I believe it is something unique to surface-dwellers.”

“Humans are weird.” M’gann sighed.

* * *

 

It was a beautiful day for the beach. The sun was shining, the water was warm, their part of the beach was completely empty and Robin had already managed to bury Wally in the sand. Sitting on the towel was the one person on the beach who was miserable: Superboy. He was miserable because Wally was wrong and he could notice the difference. He was mad because he’s a big boy and doesn’t need the stupid pull-ups because there’s not a chance he was going to have an accident.

Artemis frowned from her chair, having taken her job to watch Superboy as time to work on her tan, “Supeboy, just go play.”

“No.”

“That water looks awfully fun.”

“Then you go swim in it.” Superboy turned so his back was facing Artemis.

“Hey Kaldur!” Artemis called out, causing the Atlantean to poke his head above the water in response, “Superboy needs some help getting wet!”

“No I don’t!” Superboy protested as he rolled to one side, dodging the water blast that Kaldur had sent at him.

Artemis watched as Superboy scrambled to dodge the shots Kaldur was taking at him, admiring both the accuracy from that distance and the way the shots were lining up to drive Superboy into the water.

That’s just what happened as Superboy ended up diving into the water and splashing Kaldur as best he could.

Kaldur smiled as he helped the toddler keep his head above the water, “See? It is not so bad, is it?”

Superboy shook his head, “No. It was fun!”

From that moment Superboy was happy playing in the water, darting through the waves after Kaldur and splashing whoever made their way into the water. Nobody seemed to notice that, as the hours wore on, Superboy wasn’t tiring out. He would swim and splash with Kaldur then race back to the shore and have Robin and Wally teach him how to make sandcastles. He wouldn’t sunbathe with Artemis and M’gann because he couldn’t bring himself to sit still for that long.

Eventually the inevitable happened and he ran up to Wally, dragging him away from the water, “Bathroom.”

Wally blinked for a moment, processing what the toddler ways saying, “Now? You can’t hold it?”

Superboy huffed and rolled his eyes, “I’ve been holding it forever. I feel like I’m going to explode.”

Wally nodded and picked the toddler up, “Yea, we don’t want that. Try and hold it till we get there.”

Superboy nodded and Wally bolted down the beach, kicking up huge clouds of sand until he skidded to a stop on the other end of the beach where the bathrooms were.

“Here’s your stop.”

As soon as Superboy’s feet hit the ground he bolted into the bathroom, not giving Wally the chance to make a falling in joke. Wally never was a particularly patient person and having to stand still while waiting for a toddler to finish using the bathroom was one of the longest ten minutes of his life. He was on his third go through of the periodic table song when Superboy stepped out.

“All done?” Wally asked, taking his eyes away from the shoreline to look at Superboy.

“Uh-huh.” Superboy nodded.

“Wash your hands?”

“Yup. Can we go back now? I’m hungry.”

“Then let’s go, I could go for a sandwich or five.”

Superboy yelped in happiness as Wally slung him across his back and tore off down the beach, skidding to a stop and spraying Artemis with sand.

“Wally, you jerk!”

Superboy leapt out of Wally’s arms when the first object impacted the speedster. Ignoring the duo running around the beach, Superboy sat down next to the cooler, pulled out a sandwich, and took a huge bite out of it.

“You make it?” Robin asked as he sat down and pulled out his own sandwich.

Superboy nodded, part of his brain telling him not to talk with his mouth open.

“Good. Wally can be really late sometimes.”

Superboy giggled, which caused Robin to launch into a series of stories where Wally had made a fool of himself being late. After a few minutes the others joined them in eating, even though Artemis was glaring daggers at Wally, and started sharing stories. Superboy just sat and listened, enjoying his friends’ company.

* * *

 

It was later that night, when the team had returned and settled down to relax at night that there was a problem.

“I’m boooooooooored.” Superboy whined from his spot on the couch.

“Supes, we spent the whole day at the beach. Why aren’t you exhausted?” Robin groaned from his position on the floor.

Superboy shrugged, unperturbed by how exhausted his teammates were. He wanted to do something, and he wanted to do something now!

Wally rose to his feet as he took finished an energy bar, “I got this one guys. Hey Supes, wanna race?”

Superboy perked up, “Race?”

“Yep. Me and you, to the first building in town and back.”

Kaldur frowned, “Are you sure about this Wally?”

“Don’t worry Kaldur, I got this. How about it Supes, me and you.”

“You’re on!”

Kaldur, who had enough energy to stand, stood at the base entrance to server as the judge.

“To the first building in town and back, understood?” Both racers nodded, “Then….GO!”

As soon as the words left his mouth both racers were off in a blur, surprising Kaldur that Superboy could move that fast. It wasn’t a speed he had been able to reach before, he would have to tell Red or Batman.

Five minutes passed and Wally zoomed back into the room.

Kaldur’s eyebrows furrowed, “Where is…”

“Shhh.” Wally placed a finger to his lips, “He made it there before me but ran outta juice half way back.”

That’s when Kaldur noticed the dozing Superboy clinging to Wally’s back. At Kaldur’s shocked look, Wally winked.

“It’s a speedster secret.”

He wasn’t going to tell them that Flash used to do the same thing to him in the beginning when he had too much energy to sleep.


	10. A Boy and his Mutant Dog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Superboy slips base and the Team can't find him. The League isn't happy about this

Homework day on base was always slow and boring. Superboy hated it even more now that he didn’t have real homework, just some wiring Red had asked him to do as a favor. It was simple but hard; A bit like tying his shoes when he was bigger.

The problem was, once he finished what Red asked him to do, he had nobody to play with. M’gann, Wally, Artemis and Robin were doing homework in the library and Kaldur was off doing some of his magic training. Red was off at the watchtower, leaving Superboy with nobody to entertain him.

The toddler looked over at Wolf, “What should we do?”

Wolf tilted his head before pointing towards the door.

Superboy frowned, “I’m not supposed to go out alone.”

Wolf made a huffing noise before getting up, picking up his leash and dropping it in front of Superboy with an expectant look.

“Well, if you’re with me I’m not alone.” Superboy said to himself as he picked up the leash, “Only for a little bit.”

Wolf nodded and allowed Superboy to latch the leash on his collar before tugging him out the door. The pair would have drawn some serious attention walking down the road, a toddler walking a vicious looking dog big enough for him to ride. It took the pair a bit to find a clearing in the woods big enough for them to be able to run around. Wolf, extremely satisfied with himself, lifted his leg on the nearest tree and marked it as his own.

Superboy watched his pet for a minute before pulling his pants down and marking a different tree. He didn’t get why Wolf did it, but they were in the woods and he had to pee.

“Now what?” Superboy asked his dog as he pulled his pants back up.

Wolf looked around the clearing before trotting away and returning with a stick, dropping it at Superboy’s feet.

Supeboy picked the stick and stared at it, “Fetch?”

Wolf’s tail thumped against the ground once.

Superboy took that as a yes and picked up the stick. With some careful aim he launched it into the woods with Wolf peeling off after it. A few minutes later a slightly wet Wolf returned with the stick.

“Where’d you get wet?” Superboy asked as he took the stick again.

Wolf tilted his head in the direction he just came back from and scratched a line in the dirt.

“A stream that way?” Superboy pointed with the stick.

Wolf thumped his tail, looking expectantly at the stick.

“Will you take me there? Playing in the water is fun.”

Wolf seemed to think about it, tilting his head left and right with a slight whine.

“We’ll keep playing fetch, I promise.”

Wolf thumped his tail and rose to his feet, leading Superboy deeper into the woods.

* * *

 

“Annnnd done. Man that was rough.” Wally slumped back in his chair.

“I don’t know Wally, human history is interesting.” M’gann noted as she carefully put her books away.

“Wally has a problem with anything that isn’t science.” Robin said as he typed the last few words on a paper.

Artemis shook her head as the two friends descended into bickering. She was more worried about where Superboy was, probably with Kaldur but he hadn’t bothered them the whole time they worked. Rising to her feet, she resolved to go see Kaldur and Superboy.

“Hey, M’gann. You should make cookies. To celebrate.” Robin suggested.

“Celebrate what?”

“Getting homework done. Not that we need a reason to eat your awesome cookies.” Wally piped in.

“Fine, fine. But you two have to help.” She said with a laugh, “And licking the spoon doesn’t count as helping.”

Their bickering faded as Artemis left the room and headed towards where she knew Kaldur was practicing his magic in peace. As she rounded a corner, she bumped into just the person she was looking for.

“Artemis, I was just coming to look for you.”

Artemis frowned, “Funny. I was just coming to look for you.”

“Superboy?”

“Not with me, though he was with you.”

Kaldur frowned; worry creeping into his eyes, “I have not seen him since this morning. I believed him to be with you.”

Artemis swore violently, shocking Kaldur, and was moving as her finger flew up to her com, “Everyone to the mission room now. Superboy is missing.”

* * *

 

Superboy giggled as Wolf splashed back into the water to bring him the stick. His clothes were soaked but he couldn’t feel the cold. His powers were the best ever!

He grabbed the stick, playing tug-o-war with Wolf to get it, before sending it flying again and laughing as Wolf leapt through the stream to go get it.

“This is sooo much more fun than sitting around base all day!”

His friends and Red would never just let him stand in a waist high stream and play fetch with Wolf. Sometimes they were just no fun and boring. Like today and doing homework all day; and the other day they made him wear pull-ups to the beach.

Superboy nodded to himself, he needed more time to himself like this. It was more fun without people telling him what to do.

That’s when he noticed a frog on the bank of the stream and it gave him an awesome idea.

* * *

 

“I hate this.” M’gann grumbled to herself as she searched her section of the base.

If she had her powers she could have found Superboy in an instant but her mind powers still gave her nosebleeds and splitting headaches from her encounter with Breaker. It was a good thing in some aspects, she was a lot better at shape-shifting and her hand to hand was improving by leaps and bounds. Then something like this would happen and she would feel like she had lost a limb.

“ _M’gann, anything in your section?”_ Artemis’ worried voice cut through her misery over comms.

“Nothing here.” M’gann replied.

“ _Then head back if your sector is clear. Anyone else got anything?”_

“ _Nothing._ ” Wally reported.

 _“Same in my sector.”_ Kaldur chimed in.

“ _No Supes, but Wolf is gone too.”_ Robin added.

Artemis’ swears made M’gann blush, “ _That means he’s off base. We have to call this in. He could be anywhere._ ”

M’gann and her teammates repeated some of the words that had just left Artemis’ mouth. The League was not going to be happy with them.

* * *

 

“See? This is his house and this is where he eats! I even put some bugs there in case he gets hungry.”

Wolf thumped his tail patiently as Superboy continued to explain the house he had built for his new friend, Frog. Wolf had no way to explain to his small human that Frog had no way of understanding what he was saying so he let his human keep talking.

Happy with his building and content that his new friend was going to use it, Superboy turned to Wolf.

“What should we do now?”

Wolf whined and lay down on the ground, causing Superboy to nod and lay down on him.

“Good idea. A little nap wouldn’t hurt.”

Wolf growled softly and shook Superboy off, looking pointedly at one of the nearby trees. The toddler rolled his eyes and got up, walking to the tree and dropping his pants. Even his Wolf had no faith in him.

* * *

 

“YOU WHAT?!”

The team winced as Canary’s voice threatened to pop their ears and blow their speakers.

“We have lost track of Superboy.” Kaldur was a brave soul and his team would remember his sacrifice, “We were working on our studies and he slipped our notice.”

“He is a TODDLER!” Canary glared, “You should ALWAYS have an eye on him! He could be anywhere by now.”

“He has Wolf with him.” M’gann added hesitantly.

“Yes. His Kobra-Venom pet Wolf. I can see how that would make him safer.” Canary rolled her eyes.

“Wolf is capable of taking hits from grown Superboy and has been shown to be intelligent and loyal. I do not believe he would allow harm to come to Superboy.” Kaldur reasoned.

“But Wolf is an animal, no matter how intelligent.” Canary emphasized, “We need to…”

“The situation is handled Canary.”

Canary glared as Batman appeared next to her, “What do you mean ‘its handled’ Batman?”

“I knew Superboy was off base with his pet the moment he left. I’ve had eyes on him the whole time.” Batman directed a glare at the team, “Not that I should have had to.”

“Where is he? So we can go get him.” M’gann ventured to ask, hoping to avoid the Bat’s wrath.

“It is being handled Miss Martian. He will be back in a few hours.”

Before anyone could respond, the line was cut. The team sighed in relief knowing that Superboy was safe and that they were safe from Canary’s wrath.

“Thirteen,” a computerized voice rang out, “Black Canary.”

The team contemplated running and escaping her wrath.

“Sixteen: Red Tornado.”

They froze mid motion. They were so dead.

* * *

 

“Hey kid.” A voice cut through Superboy’s nap, “You should be careful sleeping on the ground. You’ll get sick.”

Superboy say up and rubbed his eyes with the clean part of his arm, “I don’t get sick.”

The blond woman, dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt, crouched down to Superboy’s level, “Really now? Don’t you know the one time you say that, it’s the time that you do get sick?”

“That’s not true.” Superboy mumbled as he pulled at his wet shirt. It was sticking to his body and was gross.

“So what brings you out to the stream all alone?” The woman asked.

“Playing with my dog.” Superboy responded warily. He knew better then to talk to strangers.

“Pretty big dog.” She commented.

Wolf lifted his head, growled lightly at the woman, and laid his head back down.

“He’s the best.” Superboy said with a confident nod.

“So what’s you name kid?”

Superboy shook his head, “I can’t tell you. It’s a secret.”

Blue eyes peered over sunglasses at Superboy, “Really now? That’s kind of cool. Well, Mr. Secret name, my name is Kara.”

Superboy’s mind whirred to life as she gave him her name. He knew that name from somewhere, he though, if only he could remember…

Then it clicked.

“You’re Supergirl!” He exclaimed happily.

Kara took off her sunglasses, revealing bright blue eyes just like his, and smiled, “Yup. And I’ve waited forever to meet you Superboy.”

Suddenly Superboy backed up, “You’re not gonna take my S are you?”

Kara frowned as the toddler clenched the El symbol on his shirt, “Why would I ever do something like that?”

“Superman ignores me and doesn’t like me. I’m scared he’s gonna take my S.” Superboy backed into Wolf, who shot Kara a dirty look for upsetting his human.

“I’m actually pretty mad at Superman right now kid.” Kara said as she held her hands up, “And I’d never take your S.”

“Never ever?”

“Never ever.” Kara said with a nod, “Now let’s get those clothes of yours dry and then go get something for you to eat.”

Superboy giggled as the light heat vision dried all his clothes, “That tickles.”

“I was aiming to dry you off.” Kara held her arms out, “Now, can I get a hug from my new favorite cousin?”

Superboy nodded and hugged Kara tight, happy that someone with the same S as him liked him. Kara, on the other hand, was ready to beat Superman into the ground again. How dare he do this to this precious kid?

“So, you ready to go eat?” Kara asked as Superboy pulled away.

“Can Wolf come?” Superboy asked, not wanting to abandon his dog.

“Sure,” Kara shrugged and rose to her feet, “I saw an outside eating place on my way in that smelled delicious.”

“Yay! C’mon Wolf, let’s go!”

“Hey kid, you’re potty trained right?” Kara asked casually as they started walking.

Superboy glared at her, “I’m a big boy. Even if my team doesn’t think so.”

“Good.” Kara reached down and swung Superboy up to sit on her shoulders.

“Now what’s this about your team not thinking you’re a big boy?”

* * *

 

The team was relieved to hear Superboy’s giggle echo through the base. Canary and Red had not only lectured them but made them run drills until they couldn’t move for letting Superboy slip out of the base.

They were surprised, however, when Superboy came zooming into base on Supergirl’s shoulders with Wolf trotting behind them carrying a huge bone.

Canary crossed her arms, “Supergirl, can we talk to Superboy for a moment?”

“Nope.” Kara stated, “I already talked to him about leaving base without a person with him and that Wolf doesn’t count.”

The two blonds stared each other down in a silent battle of wills before Canary sighed in exasperation and turned towards the Zeta tubes.

“As long as he knows better.”

“I do.” Superboy nodded emphatically.

Red, however, had other ideas as his human body approached the two cousins.

“Come Superboy, you are a mess. You need a bath.”

Superboy reluctantly left his cousin’s shoulders and into Red’s arms, ignoring Kara’s joke about him being a big boy. Now alone, Kara looked at her cousin’s team with a hardened face.

“SG,” Robin groaned, “if you’re gonna lecture us about letting him slip please don’t.”

Kara’s grin was deadly, “Not at all little bird. Rather, we’re going to have a talk about you guys forcing a potty trained toddler to wear pull-ups.”

The team grimaced as one as Kara bore down on them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do realize that the whole pull-ups and being a big boy thi g is showing up a lot and may be putting people off or confusing them. To clear the air, it might not seem like something big but it's the first thing to genuinely upset superboy and he's going to hold onto it.


	11. Big Sister

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> M'gann and Superboy spend the day shopping and baking, and it goes better then expected.

There was a lot that could go wrong with living with toddler Superboy: fits, tantrums, him running out of base, his boredom, keeping him from throwing things at. One thing they hadn’t counted on was his appetite. It wasn’t how much he ate at one time but rather how much he would eat over the course of the day. He’d eat breakfast, then a snack, lunch, then another two snacks, then dinner and one final snack.

In comparison, he ate as much as Wally did every day.

This is why M’gann and Superboy were out doing the grocery shopping for the base today. Superboy, who was seated in the cart and lightly kicking his legs back and forth, was occasionally reading things off of the really long list for M’gann to grab off the shelves and put in the cart.

It was a little difficult for him simply because everyone had different handwriting and they had all written their own additions to the list because M’gann had made the mistake of leaving it out on the living room table. Of course, Superboy didn’t know that it was intentional so he would have to work out the ‘grown-up’ part of his brain.

M’gann, on the other hand, was keeping all her available senses sharp. Not because she was expecting an attack in the middle of the store, but rather because Superboy had a way of adding things to the cart when she wasn’t paying attention.

“Superboy, I don’t think we need that many gummy bears.” She said with a smile as she took the six bags he had just tossed into the cart while she had been getting the bread.

The huff Superboy gave her was obviously fake and he was unable to hide the smile, tipping M’gann off that she had missed something.

“Ah Ha!” M’gann exclaimed with a grin as she pulled out the package of cookies he had slipped under the boxes of pasta, “It’ll take more than a clever hiding spot to defeat the great cart detective Megan Morse!”

Superboy giggled and M’gann smiled. The first few times Superboy had slipped things into the cart, M’gann had tried to explain why they didn’t need those things but it didn’t deter him from doing it. It was after the third time she caught him that, in one of her ‘Hello Megan!’ moments, she declared herself the Great Cart Detective Megan Morse and challenged Superboy to sneak something into the cart without her noticing.

The game had a purpose: to keep Superboy from getting bored. History had shown M’gann that a bored Superboy was a bad thing. He wasn’t exactly content to just sit and stare at static anymore.

“So what’s next on the list?” M’gann asked as she got the cart moving again. They had to be almost done at this point.

Superboy’s eyebrows furrowed in concentration and M’gann had to hold off on offering to read it for him. It was his practice, no matter how much she wanted to help.

“Ummm…Robin’s pancake mix and,” He bit his lip as he struggled with the next item, “Cake mix?”

“Next aisle over then.” M’gann stated, knowing where all the baking supplies were by heart.

“We’re having cake?” Superboy asked, excitement creeping into his voice.

M’gann nodded with a smile as she rounded the corner, “I thought we could use a break from cookies. And cake is always fun. What do ya think?”

“Can we have cookies AND cake?” Superboy asked, his eyes widening in an effort to look cuter.

“We can have cake today and cookies another day.”

M’gann knew her weakness to all things small and cute and avoided making eye contact with Superboy. If she did they would end up having cookies and cake tonight and she would be left dealing with Superboy on a sugar rush.

“Aww…” Superboy pouted.

M’gann removed the cookie mix he had slipped into the cart as she added Robin’s pancake mix, “Tell you what, why don’t you help me with the cake tonight?”

Superboy tilted his head, “I thought you said licking the spoon wasn’t really helping? That’s what you tell Wally and Robin.”

M’gann giggled as she eyed the cake mixes, “I tell them that because they fight over it and leave me doing all the work.”

Superboy frowned, “That’s mean. They shouldn’t get any cake.”

“Superboy…” M’gann sighed.

“Can we get apples?” he asked suddenly.

M’gann frowned, “Why?”

“….To eat?” he answered, his voice hopeful.

“You want to throw them at Wally and Robin don’t you?”

“Maybe.” Superboy didn’t look at her as he answered.

M’gann shook her head, removing another box of cookie mix Superboy had snuck in, and looked at him.

“Didn’t you and Artemis have a talk about how it’s not nice to throw things at people?”

“Artemis said that I shouldn’t throw things as hard at Robin because he’s smaller then everyone but me and that if I hit Wally he deserves it because he’s fast enough to dodge it.”

M’gann shook her head and laughed, “Of course she did. Tell you what, how about I talk to Canary and see if she can work you throwing apples at Wally and Robin into something constructive?”

Superboy nodded happily at the idea. He could throw things and be helpful; it was a win-win for him!

“Alright then. Now, which do you want: chocolate or vanilla?”

* * *

 

Baking a cake with Superboy was, M’gann decided, not nearly as disastrous as it could have been. Since he was working on reading, she had him reading out the steps on the box to her. Not that she didn’t know them by heart, but it kept him out of the flour and the icing.

“And now we put it in the oven?” Superboy asked, looking at the cake pan suspiciously.

It didn’t look like any cake he had eaten before.

“Is that what the box says?”

Superboy glanced down for a minute, slowly reading the words, before nodding.

“Then yup, into the oven.”

Superboy frowned as he looked over the back of the box while M’gann put the cake in.

“So what do we do now? The box doesn’t say.”

“Now,” M’gann dusted her hands off on her apron and wiped flour off of Superboy’s nose, “We clean up the mess we made.”

“That doesn’t sound like fun…”

M’gann dumped the dirty bowls in the sink before turning the water on, “Well, if we do it now we won’t have to do it later when we could be eating cake.”

Superboy’s eyes lit up and he scooted over to the sink, “Clean up now and eat cake later?”

M’gann nodded, “Just as soon as it cools and we put icing on it. How about I wash and you rinse.”

“Okay. Why do we have to wait for it to cool to put the icing on it?”

“If we don’t then the icing will just melt and it’ll look gross.” M’gann made a face and Superboy mimicked it.

“No gross cakes.”

“That’s the plan.”

The duo worked in silence for a few minutes, M’gann taking the time to think while Superboy made sure all the dishes were clean.

When she had first joined, M’gann thought, she hadn’t pictured it like this. Her team was amazing, especially once they got to know each other and started working together. It was almost like one of the old Earth shows she used to watch on Mars, especially once she had met Superboy. Thinking about it now still brought on heat in her face. She was making headway with him, and she was sure he felt the same way about her, then they had their encounter with Breaker and everything changed. Superboy was a toddler and all her mind powers were fried.

For the first time since she had arrived on Earth, she felt lost. Her telepathy was what helped her cope with the quiet on earth and without it she would have gone mad if her team hadn’t been around to help. Even Superboy provided enough of a distraction in the beginning to give her time to adjust to being unable to skim the surface thoughts of those around her.

“Hello, M’gann!”

The Martian blinked as Superboy got her attention, “Yes Superboy?”

“You were zoning out. The cake is done. I don’t want it to burn.”

M’gann smiled and dried her hands, “Silly me.”

Superboy nodded in agreement as M’gann used the potholders to pull the cake out, “Smells good.”

M’gann winked, “Wait till we ice it.”

A sudden displacement of air signaled Wally arriving in the doorway “Is that cake I smell?”

Superboy growled lowly as Wally approached the island where the cake was cooling. M’gann shook her head as she put a hand on his shoulder to stop the toddler from launching himself at the speedster as he leaned on the counter.

“Wally, it’s not ready.”

“Yea,” Superboy chimed in, “there’s no icing. So back off.”

Wally ignored Superboy, focusing on M’gann, “Come on M’gann. Just a little taste, no one will notice.”

Given that Wally was directing all his attention on charming M’gann he never saw the apple that hit him on the forehead and knocked him down. Superboy stared at where Wally had been and then at M’gann.

“Shhh.” She winked as the hand she made to throw the apple merged back with the one on Superboy’s shoulder.

Superboy giggled and nodded.

It's official, he decided, M'gann was his new best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, did I get M'gann right? or close? I have a hard time writing her.


	12. Canary's Nest pt 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the Team on an extended mission Superboy is left under Black Canary's watch and he isn't happy about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a rough and I hate doing chapters in parts but it was the only way I could get it done without abusing line breaks.

Superboy was as far from happy as he could get as his team sat around him. They were attempting to convince him that staying with Canary while they were on a mission and having little success at it.

“Why can’t she stay here with me?” the toddler demanded.

“Because our mission is gonna last at least two days SB.” Robin countered, “And Canary has a life out of being a hero, so she has to go back Star city.”

“I’ll call Kara. She’ll stay with me.” Superboy countered.

“Both Supergirl and myself have League business to attend to. We cannot stay with you.” Red added in from his spot on the other side of the room.

Kara, who was going on the mission with Red, whispered ‘I’m Sorry” so only Superboy could hear it. The toddler pretended not to hear it.

“Canary is weird.” He finally whispered where only his team could hear him.

Kaldur frowned, “What do you mean weird?”

Superboy frowned, attempting to pull his thoughts together, “She sees me, but doesn’t see ME. It’s not right.”

M’gann gave him a friendly smile and wrapped an arm around the toddler, “It’ll be okay Superboy. If you give her time she’ll see you for you. I promise.”

Superboy huffed, “Cookie cake.”

Everyone but M’gann stared confusedly at the statement, but the Martian nodded, “The biggest I can manage. Just no throwing things okay?”

Superboy stuck his hand out and the two shook on it.

As the team moved past Canary and towards the Bio-Ship Wally was the one who stopped to talk to her.

“Hey, Canary.”

“Yes Kid Flash?”

He sighed, “Supes is still Supes even if he’s a toddler. Try and remember that and he won’t wreck your place.”

“I’ve got it handled Kid Flash. Don’t worry.”

Wally frowned, but shrugged. If she wanted to make that mistake and have Supes trash her apartment, that’s her prerogative.

Robin shot him a look as they settled into their seats, “What did you say to her?”

Wally shrugged, “Warned her hot to not have Supes trash her apartment.”

Artemis look up, “Did she listen?”

Kaldur turned and joined the conversation, “There is only one way to know.”

M’gann giggled as she piloted, “I hope she’s paid up on insurance.”

 

* * *

 

Superboy glared at the inconspicuous phone box, “I hate that.”

Canary, dressed in normal jeans and t-shirt, took his hand as they made their way into the city crowd.

“It’s not that bad. You get used to it.”

At that point Superboy couldn’t hear her, her voice lost in the noise of bustling Star city. It was so much more than what he experiences in Happy Harbor. There were honking horns, people on phones, a pizza shop three blocks away cooking chicken, a little boy crying at the park six blocks away, a company merger on the 125th floor of the building across the street.

He whimpered; it was too much.

Canary was in his face, “Hey, what’s the matter?”

Her voice was muffled, like he had something in his ears.

“It’s so loud.” He managed to get out.

He didn’t like this, he wanted to go home.

Canary’s eyes widened and she slung him onto her back with a quick ‘hold on’. She turned back down the alley and leapt up the fire escape, only stopping when she was securely on the roof.

“Is this any better?” She asked, looking over her shoulder at the shaking toddler.

“Quieter.” He said with a nod.

With that in mind Canary raced across the rooftops towards her apartment, grateful that Superboy was a lot lighter than he looked. She was strong but rooftop jumping with a heavy toddler on her back was outside her abilities. A short run and one open window later, Canary set Superboy down on her couch and closed her window.

“I’m gonna hop into the shower okay? I’ll scrounge up something for us to eat when I’m done.”

“I’m sure I can manage for a few minutes.” Superboy growled, shrugging off his book bag.

Once Canary was gone Superboy reached into his bag and pulled out one of Artemis’ shirts, hugging it close and appreciating how much it smelled like his friend. He had stolen one of each of his teammates’ favorite shirts, or jackets in Robin’s case, and brought them with him. They reminded him of home and helped block out how strange it felt to be somewhere else.

Anger surged through him again, mad at the noise and being stuck with Canary and his team leaving him behind, and he buried his face in Artemis’ shirt with a growl before he hit and broke some something.

He promised M’gann and he really wanted that cookie cake.

Thinking about M’gann’s cookie cake calmed him down and made him aware of how hungry he was. He hadn’t eaten since breakfast and it was getting to him. Ignoring the fact that Canary had said to wait, because he was big and invulnerable and didn’t need to wait for her to get something to eat, Superboy got to his feet and followed his nose to Canary’s kitchen. It wasn’t like his, it was less homey then the one he was used to, but her fridge was just as big. Opening the fridge he sniffed around until he found something that smelled good enough to eat.

Some of the things she had smelled awful and Superboy committed himself to telling her that some of her food had gone bad.

Taking out the food he had found, a small white box with a red pagoda on the side that only smelled a day or two old; he closed the fridge and opened her dishwasher. Kaldur always forgot silverware in the dishwasher and if Kaldur did it, Superboy assured himself, lots of people did it.

“Ah ha!” he exclaimed, shifting around his stuff so he could grasp the fork.

Relishing in his success, Superboy sat down on the floor and started eating. He couldn’t ever remember eating something that tasted this good, not counting M’gann’s cookies. It was a bit salty but he was too hungry to care.

“I see you found the food.”

Superboy didn’t pause in his eating, he had heard canary the moment she had touched the tile of the kitchen.

“Thought I asked you to wait.”

Superboy shrugged, too hungry to care.

Canary frowned as she watched Superboy devour her leftover takeout. Aside from the fact that it was from her favorite restaurant and she had been saving it, he was eating too fast.

“Hey,” She crouched down and placed a hand over his to pause his eating, “slow down. You’re going to upset your tummy.”

“Stomach.” Superboy corrected through a mouthful of food. He wasn’t some baby that used words like tummy.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full.” Canary responded, “But either way, you shouldn’t eat so fast. You don’t want to spend tonight with a stomach ache.”

Superboy rolled his eyes, shook her hand off, and continued eating. He could handle a stomach ache. Canary, on the other hand, shook her head and snatched the box away faster than Superboy could stop her.

“Hey! Give it back!” Superboy lunged after it but Canary was already gone.

“Not until you agree to eat slower.”

If there was one thing Canary was certain on about dealing with little kids, it was that you had to stand firm when you made a decision. That’s why she was prepared when Superboy lashed out and punched at her stomach, twisting slightly to the left to avoid it and taking a step back to avoid the follow up hit.

“You need to calm down Superboy.”

She was remaining calm, even as the punches started coming faster and faster. As she danced around the blows she slowly began to piece together that this wasn’t just about the food. There was no way he was this upset about her reprimanding him for eating too fast.

Making a split decision, Canary caught one of the toddler’s punches and twisted until she was sitting with him on her lap. He struggled to get free but she held tight, knowing the she was definitely going to feel it in the morning.

“Let me go!”

“Not until you tell me what’s really wrong.” Canary made sure to keep her voice calm and soothing, “I don’t think this is just about the food.”

Superboy continued to struggle, resorting to chomping down on Canary’s arm to get free. As she nursed the bite Superboy took off with speed he hadn’t used since that race with Wally, snatched up his stuff, and locked himself in a closet.

Taking a deep breath, Superboy relished in familiarity of a confined space. It wasn’t home but it was better than being stuck with Canary all night.

Anger bubbled up in him again. How could his team just leave him alone with her! After he warned them! They never listened to him.

That’s when the anger finally drained from him, leaving him tired and upset. He sniffed heavily, trying to keep the tears back but one escaped.

Then another and another.

Superboy fished out the shirt he stole from Kaldur and buried his face in it. It smelled like saltwater and the electric tang of the Atlantean’s magic. It hid the smell of his tears as his resistance finally broke and he began to sob.

They left him all alone in a place he didn’t know with a woman he barely knew.

They left him.

They abandoned him.

They didn’t want him.

After a while he fell asleep while clutching Kaldur’s shirt. He never noticed when Canary opened the door, having picked the lock, and picked him up.

“You know,” she whispered as she pet his head gently; “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”

The clone growled lightly in his sleep, but didn’t wake up.

Canary sighed, this was going to be a long couple of days.


	13. Canary's Nest pt 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Superboy wakes up and his day just goes downhill from there. Good thing Canay is a patient woman.

As Superboy slowly woke up he noticed a few things were off. He couldn’t hear the ocean, but rather a bunch of people talking and cars running. The pale blue walls of the room were a contrast to his normal gray ones. His sheets, normally plain black, weren’t the right shade or material and his ‘S’ pillow was missing. He couldn’t hear Wally arguing with Artemis, or smell M’gann’s cooking, or taste the slight buzz in the air from Kaldur’s magic. Last, and oddest of all, was that his clothes were wet.

Focusing on that part, Superboy rubbed his eyes in contemplation. How could his clothes get wet if he didn’t go swimming? Shrugging, he rolled back over and closed his eyes. Wally always told him that if he couldn’t hear anyone in the kitchen it was too early to be awake.

As he started drifting back to sleep, the memories from last night surged to the forefront of his mind. Spitting out several words that would have made Kaldur frown and Artemis laugh, Superboy sat up with a start.

“I think I need to have a talk with your teammates about their language. Some of those I haven’t heard in years.”

Superboy turned towards the door, just noticing Canary entering the room. She stood there, arms crossed and leaning on the doorframe dressed a tank top and shorts with a towel tossed over one shoulder.

Superboy frowned, ‘You shouldn’t have heard that. Your hearing isn’t good enough.”

“Baby monitor. Had to make sure you wouldn’t try and bolt again”

She pointed to a blinking device on the nightstand and Superboy growled lowly, more at the name than her spying on him. Canary rolled her eyes.

“It has nothing to do with you being small Superboy. I used to use the same thing on Speedy when he would spend the night to make sure he didn’t try and sneak out.”

Superboy ignored her and Canary sighed.

“Look, why don’t you get cleaned up and I’ll make something to eat. Eggs okay?”

“Eggs are fine. And what do you mean cleaned up?”

Canary stared at him, “From the looks of it Superboy, you wet the bed last night. You can’t stay in wet clothes all day.”

“Wet the bed.” Superboy repeated slowly as he began to notice, once again, that his clothes were wet.

It was in that moment that the adult side of his brain decided to wake up and tell him that “wet the bed” meant he had an accident while sleeping and it was common in both children in high stress conditions and in children under the age of five.

Canary watched as his eyes slowly widened and his face started to turn red, “Don’t be embarrassed. It’s common in kids your…body’s age.”

Superboy shook his head in denial.

“And you were really stressed out last night kid. It happens sometimes.”

What Canary didn’t understand was that this was, in fact, Superboy’s first accident of any kind. Given that fact it shouldn’t be any kind of surprise that it upset him. A lot.

However Canary didn’t know this, leaving her so stare dumbfounded as Superboy began to sniff loudly, and failing at stopping himself, started bawling his eyes out.

“Hey, hey, it’s nothing to cry about. It’s just an accident.”

She would have moved in to physically comfort him but last night’s incident made her wary of getting to close. It went against every instinct she had to just stand there and watch him bawl his eyes out.

Her instincts won out and she was at his side, running her fingers through his hair comfortingly.

“It’s okay Superboy. These things happen.”

“Noooo,” he sobbed, “they dooooon’t.”

“It’s normal.” She pressed, “And it’s not the end of the world. We’ll get you a shower and some clean clothes. It’ll be like it never happened.”

Superboy nodded at the last part, “It never happened.”

Canary nodded and took the crying toddler by the hand, his wet clothes stopping her from picking him up, and led him to the bathroom. Superboy, still upset and out of it, didn’t realize what was happening until Canary had helped him out of everything except his ‘S’ shield briefs.

“I can do it.” He mumbled as he gently pushed her hand away.

She frowned slightly, concern written all over her face “Are you sure? I know Red helps you sometimes…”

Superboy shook his head, “I’m a big boy and I can do it.”

Canary nodded, ignoring his choice of words, and pointed out the hot and cold on the tub before leaving with the promise to bring him a towel and clothes.

“Are you sure you’re gonna be okay Superboy? You don’t need any help?”

“I’ll be okay.” He mumbled, waiting patiently. He didn’t have the energy to be impatient or upset anymore.

Canary sighed to herself as she closed the door. Dealing with Superboy was completely different than what she had been expecting. Dealing with toddlers was something she was familiar with but Superboy as a toddler was completely foreign. Sure, he had a lot of the similar behaviors but they were thrown off by the fact that Superboy was a teenager in mind. Never before had a toddler’s assertions of being a ‘big boy’ held so much weight.

Canary’s eyebrows shot up as she pulled out several pieces of clothing that clearly belonged to his teammates. Comfort objects perhaps? Now that she thought about it she found one of those shirts with him last night when she fished him out of her linen closet.

She set them aside with a shrug and fished out one of his clean outfits. Who was she to question someone’s comfort objects?

Grabbing a towel, she politely knocked on the door.

“Superboy? I’m coming in.”

She slid in quietly and set what she was carrying on the toilet. Spotting the younger boy’s shadow on the shower curtain, she frowned as she noticed he wasn’t moving at all.

“Superboy?”

Not getting a response, she moved part of the shower curtain aside to check on him. What she saw brought a small smile to her face. The toddler was asleep on his feet in the shower, swaying lightly back and forth as the water ran over him. Canary, deciding that he could afford to sleep a little longer, turned the water off and wrapped him in a towel before taking him out. Grabbing the clean clothes she brought, Canary carried him to her couch so he could finish sleeping while she did some paperwork and laundry. In an effort to preserve his modesty, despite the fact he was a toddler and didn’t possess any modesty, Canary pulled the pair of underwear onto Superboy.

“Better he be a little embarrassed then streaking around my apartment.” Canary muttered to herself.

* * *

 

Canary looked up from her paperwork, mostly mission reports form the League, as Superboy sat up and rubbed his eyes.

“Look who’s up again.” She stated as she set down her current report, “Are you dry?”

“Yes.” Superboy mumbled; clearly not awake enough to realize what Canary asked, “Shower?”

“You fell asleep.”

“Hungry.”

Canary smiled and rose to her feet, “Its about lunch time, so let’s go see what I can put together.”

Superboy nodded and held his arms up, “Up.”

Canary looked at him with one eyebrow raised, “I thought you were a big boy?”

“Sleepy.” Superboy responded, keeping his arms up.

“I see. Good to remember.” Canary stated as she scooped him up.

Making her way into her kitchen, she pulled her fridge open with her free hand. The duo peered inside.

“I’m not much of a cook.” Canary admitted.

“San’wich.” Superboy mumbled, “I like san’wiches.”

“I can do that.” Canary said as she reached towards some lunchmeat.

Superboy stopped her, “Smells bad.”

Canary frowned and tossed the package in the trash, “Must have gone bad when I had a mission.”

Superboy remained quiet, aside from the occasional yawn, as Canary went about making lunch. Canary, on the other hand, was discovering how hard it was to make food when one of her hands was full. Canary frowned as she felt Superboy’s head thump lightly against her shoulder.

“Hey, are you feeling okay?”

“Tired.” Superboy mumbled, his voice muffled by Canary’s shirt.

Using her free hand Canary reached up and felt his forehead, “You shouldn’t be this tired and you don’t feel warm. Does anything hurt?”

Superboy’s head shook slightly, “Just tired.”

Canary, her face still set in a frown, wrote it off as something to look into later and carried the food to the table where she’d been working earlier and set them down.

“Ready to try and eat something?” Canary asked as she set the half asleep toddler in one of the empty chairs.

Superboy nodded as he shifted to sit on his knees and began eating at a steady, slow pace. Admittedly, Canary spent more time watching Superboy work his way through his sandwich then she did eating her own. She hadn’t seen, or read reports of, him acting like this and with her own limited knowledge of Kryptonian biology, she couldn’t determine the cause.

The only thing she did know is that he shouldn’t be this lethargic because of energy levels. She knew that Superboy, and his team, made a point to spend as much time outside as possible which means that his solar radiation levels were always high.

“’M done.” Superboy mumbled, breaking Canary out of her thoughts.

Canary glanced over, noting how his eyes were slightly glazed and half shut, and gave a reassuring smile, “Tell you what, why don’t we go relax on the couch and I read you a few stories. How’s that sound?”

Superboy nodded, holding his arms out again as an invitation for Canary to pick him up. It only took a few minutes for the pair to move and get settled on the couch, Canary sitting up and Superboy laying on her left with Robin’s jacket wrapped around him like a blanket.

The Canary began telling the kind of stories she knew Superboy would want to hear; she told him stories about her mother, the original Black Canary and the Justice Society of America, about the founding of the Justice League, about her time as a beginning hero taking on her first big-time villains.

“Is my team coming back?”

Canary paused in her retelling of how she first sought out Batman at that question, “Of course they are. Why would you even ask that?”

Superboy curled in a bit more on himself, “I thought they didn’t want me anymore cus I’m small.”

Canary shooshed him as she ran her fingers through his hair, “No Superboy, it’s nothing like that. They had a mission and they’ll be back for you as soon as they’re done.”

“Promise?”

“Absolutely. You’ll know as soon as their report crosses my desk.”

“Good.”

As Superboy snuggled closer, Canary picked upper her story where it left off. This time, however, she changed her voice to have an almost lullaby effect on Superboy. It only took a few minutes before Superboy was asleep again and Canary was free to get up and quietly move into the next room.

Pulling out her communicator, she quickly put in a call to the Watchtower for Superman.

“Canary, what can I do for you?”

Canary grinned, this was going to be easier then she thought.

“Just some quick questions about Kryptonian physiology. First off….”

 

* * *

 

When Superboy woke up the third time he noticed, after blearily making sure she hadn’t had another accident, that Canary was in the same spot she had been when he fell asleep again.

“Afternoon sunshine.” She greeted with as smile when she noticed he was awake, “Still feeling tired?”

Superboy nodded, yawning as he did. He was still tired, which was odd because he never woke up tired from a nap. Not even after that time he raced Wally.

Canary set down the report and picked up her phone, “Well, I have a surprise for you.”

Superboy raised an eyebrow as she handed him the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey Superboy!” M’gann’s voice came through the speaker, “You behaving for Canary?”

“Uh huh.” He nodded, more awake than he had been a minute ago.

“Hey, is that Supes on the line?” Wally cut in, “Hey kid, you won’t believe the souvenir I got you!”

“You got me a souvenir?” Superboy exclaimed.

“Well duh. I mean, it still goes on the shelf but I got you one anyway.”

There was static for a moment before another familiar voice cut in, “What KF is trying to say is we missed you on this one SB. Lots of bad guys to hit.”

Superboy giggled, “That does sound like fun.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it.” Artemis cut in, “We’re gonna tell you all about it over that cookie cake as long as you didn’t throw anything.”

Canary snorted quietly as Superboy explained how he hadn’t thrown anything and two days and that Wally could get his own cookie cake.

“So you didn’t abandon me here?” Superboy asked quietly.

“Of course not!” M’gann responded.

“We’d never do that SB.”

“Yea, even if you’re a terrible sharer we wouldn’t abandon you.”

“You are an important part of this team.”

“We’re family.” Artemis added with a tone of finality, “We’d never abandon you.”

Superboy handed the phone back to Canary as he buried his face in the jacket, crying softly.

“Canary here.”

“Canary. Is everything well?” Kaldur asked.

“Yes. Whatever you guys said got to him.”

“I see. And is he well? He sounds a little off.” The teal leader took his job seriously.

“He ate something that didn’t agree with him.” Canary responded, “And fighting it took a lot of his energy. He’s been sleeping it off.”

“I see.” Kaldur paused for a moment, “We, as a team, would like to say thank you for looking after him for us Canary.”

“It’s not a problem.”

Superboy, having composed himself for the most part, made grabby hands at the phone.

“When will you be back home?” He asked as soon as he got the phone.

“We should be back by tomorrow afternoon.” Kaldur responded.

“Yea. We’ll even swing by and get you before we head back to base.” Wally cut in.

That was the first time canary had ever seen Superboy, toddler or not, smile that big and bright.


	14. Hunt: Homo Kryptonian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its time Superman gets what's coming to him.

Last thing Superman remembered was going after a purse snatcher before he was hit with a force similar to a freight train.

“Get up Superman. We are far, far from done here.”

Superman struggled to his feet, taking in his new surroundings. It was desolate, nothing but barren ground stretching out for miles around him. A yellow sun shined brightly in the sky and a slight breeze carried dust across the plain. The kryptonian glanced at the only other person in the area with him.

Dark hair, green and brown eyes, black body suit and cargo pants, fanged half-mask.

“Breaker.” Superman rose to his feet, “You’re Breaker.”

Breaker inclined his head, “My reputation precedes me.”

“Why come after me? Until this you’ve only gone after villains.” Superman tried to reason with the other man.

Breaker snorted, “You really don’t get it do you?”

“Get wha-” Superman was cut off as a punch knocked the wind out of him.

“The reason I’m here, the reason I’m coming after you, is because you fucked up.”

Another punch slammed him into the ground, creating a small crater. Superman barely managed to roll out the way of an ax kick that would have taken his head off and throw a punch of his own that forced Breaker back a few inches.

“How did I, as you put it, fuck up?” Superman growled as he threw more punches.

Breaker wove around them, “Man your form is sloppy.”

“Answer.” Superman’s eyes lit up, “The question!”

The heat beam slammed into Breaker’s chest before he could get his guard up, sending him flying yards away and kicking up a cloud of dust where he hit the ground. Superman took the moment to catch his breath, mentally berating his loss of control.

“You want to know the answer to the question?”

Superman froze as Breaker strode out of the cloud of dust, his bodysuit singed but looking no worse for wear.

“How you fucked up is simple. I’m a god, Superman. An honest to creation God.” The earth writhed under Superman before surging upward and slamming into Superman’s chest.

“I dwell in the space between multiverses. And, like other Gods, I have my attributes. Earth, fire, lightning.”

Superman struggled to dodge as various forces of nature conspired to hit him. Earth spikes, plumes of fire, and bolts of lightning all struck at him.

“But aside from the elements,” Breaker strode through the maelstrom calmly, “I am also patron of Family and Parenting. Family is everything to me. On top of that I, in contrast to my sister, am god of rage and slow burning wrath.”

A hand latched onto Superman’s cape as he surged to the left to avoid a lightning strike and swung him through the air and into the ground. Before Superman could recover, several bolts of lightning slammed into him as bands of stone wound around the Man of Steel to keep him in place.

“So Superman, it’s a pretty big deal when a singular child’s pleas and sadness reaches my domain. Especially when the world is so far away from where I am. But you know what?”

Superman struggled against the bonds, they reformed just as fast as he could shatter them, as Breaker leaned in closer. Green and brown eyes burrowed into blue.

“One did. A paradoxical child, seemingly sixteen yet barely five months. A child with no attachments what so ever, scared to actually. So that drew me in, what could scar a child that young? I dug even deeper and found you. You, Kal of House El. The Last Son of Krypton. The Man of Steel. Clark Kent.”

Superman froze as the implication sunk in.

“You, Superman, brought this upon yourself. You who not only rejected, but completely shattered, a child’s attempt to bond so thoroughly that it scarred him from being able to form any solid bonds in the future.”

A fist slammed into Superman’s face hard enough to crack his jaw and bury his head in the dirt. More and more blows rained down, causing Superman’s bones to creak and groan in protest to the sheer force.

Eventually something snapped inside Superman. Between the blows and the realization that one choice wrought all this destruction, his self-control broke.

Breaker flipped out the way as a blast of heat seared through where he had been a minute ago. Beneath his mask a grin spread across his face.

Superman floated to his feet, eyes ablaze with energy, cape torn off, and a snarl marring his normal face.

“I can see I hit a button. Come at me.”

Superman at full speed was faster than the eye could see. Breaker caught the punch without looking and retaliated with a kick that sent the man of steel flying back. The two disappeared and began moving faster and faster, creating shockwaves wherever they clashed. Breaker laughed as he wove around a series of lightning fast jabs. Taking advantage of an opening, Breaker slammed a flame covered fist into Superman’s face to blind him for a moment.

“I was hoping to see you at your best Kal-El and you haven’t disappointed. But it’s no fun when you’re fighting like a mindless berserker.”

Superman growled and charged forward, only to get a kick to the head and a barrage of punches to the ribs. Breaker disappeared and reappeared above Superman, driving both legs into his spine and creating another crater upon impact.

Superman groaned as he rolled over. Breaker loomed over him, cracking his knuckles.

“Good, you’re back. Time to start.”

 

* * *

 

Superboy blinked as everything around him froze. The TV stopped playing, Wally was frozen mid run, Robin stopped mid-laugh.

“What’s going on?” the toddler mumbled to himself as he looked around.

A small green light appeared by Superboy’s head, circling around him and making him giggle. It bobbed in front of his eyes before flying away.

“Hey! Comeback!” Superboy jumped off the couch and chased after the light.

It led him through the base, pausing to dance around him every now and then so the toddler could try and catch it before darting off again. Eventually Superboy found himself standing in the mission room, jumping and attempting to catch the green light.

This time it darted away faster than before he got close. Superboy, with determination written across his face, lunged for the light. He stopped short as the light grew brighter and brighter until Superboy was forced to shield his eyes.

“Superboy, it’s been a while.”

Superboy blinked the spots away as the light faded. When he saw who was there he did the only thing that made sense.

“RRRRREEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDD!!”


	15. All the little ducks lined up in a row

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time's up as the whole situation comes to a head....

Breaker frowned as he watched Superboy, eyes wild with fear, continue to call out for “Red”. This wasn’t what he had anticipated, Superboy was supposed to be surprised when he delivered Superman.

“Superboy, I don’t understand.” Breaker put his hands up as he approached the shouting toddler, “This was supposed to be a good surprise, not the kind that makes you shout.”

Superboy stopped shouting, “A surprise?”

Breaker smiled gently, crouching down to Superboy’s level, “Yes, a surprise. I brought Superman here to you so you could say whatever you need to say to him.”

Superboy leaned around Breaker and furrowed his eyebrows, “But why is he all hurt?”

“He got what was coming to him.”

“But he looks really, really, hurt.” Superboy insisted, “He should see a doctor.”

Breaker shook his head, “You can’t hurt a child and expect to get away with no consequences. Not when I’m involved.”

Superboy paused at that, looking at breaker in awe, “You beat up Superman?”

“Yup.”

“’cus he hurt a kid?”

Breaker shook his head, “Because he hurt you Superboy, a lot.”

“I don’t remember him hurting me.” Superboy bit his lip, “He never hit me.”

“You don’t need to hit someone to hurt them,” Breaker explained as he rested a hand on the toddler’s shoulder, “especially when I’m around.”

“Then why did you hit Superman?”

“Because hitting him was the fastest way to get things done. You can hit him too if you want.”

Superboy found himself seriously considering hitting the other kryptonian. When he thought about it, big Superboy thought about it, Superman deserved to get hit. Even Kara and Canary had said so on several different occasions. When he voiced the thoughts, because it was easier for him to think aloud, Breaker chuckled to himself.

“They sound like very smart women Superboy.”

Superboy nodded, “Really smart.”

As Superboy strongly contemplated hitting his genetic donor, with Breaker gently encouraging him to hit him at least once, the world shook slightly.

“What was that?”

Breaker glared up towards, “Interlopers. I stopped time on the planet but it appears that your heroes on the watchtower are trying to break through.”

“Whoa. You can stop time?”

“Focus kid. If you’re gonna hit him, do it now before people show up to stop you.”

Superboy stared down at his feet, “But I’m still not sure if I want to…”

Breaker sighed as he decided to bring out the big guns, “Kid, look at me.”

Blue eyes met brown and green.

“He should have been one of your parents, one of your genetic donors, but instead he turned his back on you from the moment he met you. He has ignored you, denied your existence. He has hurt you so bad that your pain summoned a multi-dimensional god, not to mention that his own teammates want to do the same thing I’m giving you the opportunity to do today. In short, Superboy, hit him.”

Tears stung Superboy’s eyes as a very familiar feeling washed over him. It was wrath, wrath born from the actions that the other man in the room had taken against him. Before he was fully aware of what he was doing, he was hitting Superman as hard as he could.

Again and again, he slammed his fists into Superman. There was no form or grace to his hits, Canary would flinch at how out of form he was, but there was power enough that he heard several cracks during the course of his onslaught.

Superboy’s eyes were burning by the time he ran out of steam. The wrath, the anger, had drained away and left him exhausted. He sagged to the ground, clenching his suddenly aching left hand. A pair of arms scooped him up off the ground, holding him tight and rubbing his back. Slowly but surely the burning in his eyes faded away and Superboy became aware of the commotion around him.

“Put him down.” Batman growled, having several batarangs already brought to bear, “Now.”

Breaker stared at him as he continued to comfort Superboy, “You are in no place to order me around Batman.”

~~~~

After the first dozen blows, Superboy had been hitting faster than Breaker estimated, the god had allowed the time bubble to pop and time to resume normally. That had the immediate result of the entirety of the League that had been on the Watchtower to beam into the base, arriving slightly after the team had arrived in their own mission control room. Both parties were dumbstruck by the scene of Superboy screaming in rage as he laid into Superman with force they hadn’t ever seen him use before.

They didn’t notice Breaker standing there, excluding Batman, until Flash made an attempt to grab Superboy and had been tripped.

“That is a really bad Idea. Just snatching up an angry super powered toddler hitting hard enough to level mountains? He’d probably kill you.”

All eyes refocused as they took note of the man standing between them and Superboy. Breaker’s stance was casual but solid. He made no attempt to hide that he was expecting a fight, one that the League was willing to give him.

So it was a shock, when the league moved to attack, that both a wall of water and a flash-bang arrow cut them off. Green arrow and Aquaman frowned.

“What is the meaning of this Kaldur?” Aquaman demanded.

“No matter how brutal his methods may seem, this is something that needs to be done.” Kaldur drew is water bearers in the shape of a sword.

“Artemis?” Green Arrow questioned.

“Sorry. This will help Superboy a lot. I can’t let you interfere.” She shrugged as she drew back one of her more lethal arrows.

The rest of the team slowly walked over to where Artemis and Kaldur were standing, taking up a ready stance. Batman cursed under his breath as Supergirl, Red Tornado, and Canary all removed themselves from the battle entirely. They would refuse to fight the team and Batman could see how hesitant the other mentors were. An enemy was one thing, but their own protégé’s was another thing entirely.

Then Superboy stopped pummeling and broke down crying, causing Breaker to turn away from the conflict.

~~~~

Batman, despite his willingness to fight, was surprised at how intimidating a man could appear while holding a child. His hands clenched around the batarangs, ready to fling them at a moment’s notice.

“Batman,” Breaker said slowly, “I will not attack you without a reason. If those come within five feet of anyone under the age of eighteen, you’ll end up like your friend over there.”

Batman spared a glance at where Superman was being treated by Flash, easily seeing the bloody nose, black eyes and even the broken ribs. Batman fought back a wince at the state of his fellow hero. Rare was the day when Superman took a beating like that.

“Batman, what is our plan?” Wonder woman asked, her sword at the ready.

Breaker stared at the assembled members of the League. He could easily wipe them from existence, but that would do more harm than good for this dimension and being non-lethal would put every kid in the room at risk.

“I won’t attack you.” Breaker stated again, “I will only defend. That is my last time telling you.”

Batman, after locking eyes with Robin, stood down and signaled the others to do the same. Breaker relaxed marginally and the team stood down.

“We need to talk.” Barman attempted to take control of the situation.

“Kid has a dislocated pointer finger and a few hairline fractures in his hand. I’m going to treat it before it heals and I have to cause him more pain to fix it.”

Breaker spun on his heel and winked out of existence. The team, in silent communication with each other, split off in different directions. Batman rolled his eyes under the cowl, he taught Robin that strategy and they were all going to where Breaker was.

“Batman?” Wonder woman questioned as she sheathed her sword.

“Go back to the Watchtower with Superman and get him patched up. I’ll stay here.”

Wonder Woman snorted and directed the other members of the League to follow those orders.

“I have seen what this Breaker can do. I don’t think it is wise to leave you alone with him.”

Batman grunted, knowing there was nothing he could do to stop the warrior princess from following him. Her response was merely a curtesy and they both knew it. With that in mind, Batman stalked off to where his best guess told them where the team was:

The med-bay.

 

* * *

 

Superboy whimpered as Breaker gently probed his hand for any further injury. He knew his team was coming; M’gann had assured him that they were on their way, but it still hurt.

“Its okay kid,” Breaker said softly, “almost done.”

Superboy nodded slowly, too worn out to put up his usual resistance. Breaker nodded to himself as he finished observing the hand. Nothing different than what Breaker had observed earlier, though the toddler was healing slower than anticipated. With a casual gesture he conjured a stuffed dog and handed it to Superboy, who latched onto it with his good hand and held it close.

“Hold tight to that kid, this is gonna hurt.” Breaker tightened his grip on the hand so Superboy couldn’t pull away, “On three. One, two…”

Superboy cried out as the finger was popped back into place, burying his face in the dog, and Breaker was quick to comfort the boy. M’gann was the first of the team to make it to the med-bay, phasing up through the ground and taking a seat next to Superboy.

“Are you okay Superboy?” she asked, her voice soft and full of concern.

“Tired.” Was the mumbled response as the toddler snuggled into her side.

Breaker took the opportunity to wrap Superboy’s hand, it wasn’t the normal treatment but Superboy would be healed anywhere from a few hours to two days depending on how much time he spent in the sun. By the time he was done, because no matter how stoic the toddler was he still squirmed as his hand was moved, the rest of the team had filed into the room through a combination of the door and the vents. Breaker took a step back, not that range mattered if he had to remove the youngest, as the teenagers swarmed to fuss over their teammate. Then rolled his eyes as they over crowded him, signaled by the toddler’s whine. After another few moments, Kaldur spun on his heel and approached Breaker, a water bearer drawn in the shape of a curved dagger.

“Breaker.”

The god eyed the Atlantean critically before smiling and placing a hand on the teen’s shoulder.

“Kaldur’ahm, I am glad to see that my gift has done you a great deal of good.”

“It was…unexpected if not appreciated.” Kaldur said slowly, “but we are not here to speak about me. I am far more worried about my friend.”

“He’ll be okay. His hand will heal and his head will be in a better place.”

Kaldur’s eyebrows furrowed as he glanced over his shoulder at the rest of his team, “Will he be returned to his normal form?”

Breaker tilted his head, “He’s happier this way.”

Kaldur shook his head, “He will still be happy, no matter the body. You have ensured that. However, we are a special-ops team and if he remains a child we will be split apart.”

That forced the smile off of Breaker’s face, “Hadn’t thought of that. Doing that would cause more harm than the good leaving him that way.”

Breaker gave Kaldur a knowing look, “You’ve studied plenty on magic since we last met Kaldur, and it’s left its mark. I’m proud, but you know that this will linger on him.”

Kaldur nodded, “I had my suspicions.”

Breaker sighed, “I’ll put him back. Just give us a moment.”

When Kaldur relayed this, the team frowned and expressed their discontent but left the room with a thinly veiled threat from Breaker about how if they didn’t deal with the heroes outside the door, he would and it wouldn’t be pretty.

When they were alone, truly alone because breaker fried any monitoring devices with a quick jolt of electricity, he pulled a chair up in front of the pouting toddler.

“I take it you heard?”

“You’re making me big again.” Superboy shook his head, “I don’t want you to though.”

“It’s easier for you like this huh?”

Superboy nodded, “When I’m like this nobody thinks I’m weird for being awed at a tide pool. When I’m me, regular me, it’s like I can’t be and I get angry.”

“You heard the reasons.” Breaker explained gently, “If you want to stay with your team, you’ve got to be able to fight with them. You can’t like this.”

Superboy’s eyes were defiant, tinged purple at the center, and his grip tightened on the dog.

“But I don’t want to.”

“As much as I’d love to leave you as you are, it’s the best option in my opinion, you still have too much to do. I interfered in this universe in its infancy and you play too great a role here for me tear your team apart.”

Superboy stared at him, eyes still slightly purple, and Breaker ran his fingers through his own hair.

“Alright, look. Like I told Kaldur the magic I used has left its mark. What I didn’t tell him is that it’s in your hands. If you focus enough, you can switch back and forth.”

The purple faded in an instant as the toddler’s eyes lit up, “Really?!”

Breaker nodded, “You have to be careful though. If you do it too much the mark on you will grow and become unstable. I can stabilize it, perhaps Kaldur as well with the work he’s been doing lately, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be careful.”

Superboy nodded, “I’ll be careful. I promise. The most careful ever!”

“Let’s hope so.” Breaker chuckled as he stood up, “Now let’s do this before the break down the door.”

Superboy didn’t know what he was expecting to happen, maybe glowing magic and flickering lights and possibly some chanting. Instead all he got was a sudden sense of vertigo as everything in the room was suddenly smaller.

Breaker’s smile didn’t reach his eyes as he messed up Superboy’s hair, “And there you go. Now I’m on my way, things to do, people to fight.”

Superboy frowned as he rose to his feet, “Are you ever going to come back?”

Breaker rolled his eyes, “With as much time as I’ve invested in you? You’ll definitely be seeing me again.”

“Good. And thank you.”

Breaker snorted as a portal tore itself open, “You’re welcome. Good luck Conner.”

Before Superboy could question the name, or chase after him, the portal was closed and he was gone. The door to the med-bay opened with a hiss and the team scrambled back in, bombarding him with questions and making sure he was okay.

“I’m fine.” He stressed, gently shaking off Artemis and Robin, “Other than my hand, I’m fine.”

Despite how much he asserted that yes, he was okay, and no, Breaker didn’t curse him again somehow, the team wasn’t happy until they each checked him over themselves. Then they let Batman and Wonder woman into the room. Superboy locked eyes with the cowl, daring him to say anything.

“It’s good to have you back Superboy.”

Superboy snorted, “I never left.”

“Get some rest,” Batman added as he turned to leave, “you have a mission tomorrow.”

Only when the door was closed did Superboy give into the temptation to throw the pillow off the med-bay’s bed at the door. The entire team looked on in surprise as it exploded into a pile of fabric and cotton.

“I really hope you’ve learned to doge those apples Wally,” Robin chirped, “because those are going to hurt if they hit you.”

“Supes wouldn’t do that to me now, he’s not all toddler-y now.” Wally spared a glance at Superboy, “Right?”

Superboy smirked, “Artemis said if you get hit, it’s your own fault because you’re fast enough to doge them.”

Everyone laughed as Wally groaned and called Artemis a traitor. Maybe, Superboy thought as he laughed with his teammates, this wouldn’t be as bad as he thought.

 

* * *

 

Breaker flopped into his favorite chair in the most undignified fashion, bringing up a holographic screen with a careless wave of his hand. The room was simple and cluttered with three large bookshelves crammed full of books and papers, a desk covered with papers and glowing objects. A fireplace roared against one wall, the mantle covered in trophies, awards, pictures and childish crayon drawings.

“Weren’t you supposed to have brought someone new home today?”

“Don’t remind me.” Breaker groaned and he scrolled through the backlog of messages, “it was a difficult case, give it time.”

The he paused, staring at the source of the voice and the time display on his screen.

“You’re supposed to be in bed.”

“Eh, when you’re away the kids will play.”

“I swear I will immolate the person who invented that saying.” Then he froze, “If you’re here, where are the triplets?”

“Eh-heh-heh. Well, look at the time. Night!”

Breaker was on his feet, casting his mask haphazardly onto the desk, and out the door of his office in a heartbeat.

“Not my house! I just go home!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for reading and sticking along for the ride! This isn't the end, however, so keep your eyes open for spin-offs, add-ons, and the like than a gaming company could shake your wallet for. Afterall, the entire univers just got changed...


End file.
